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Dessert

French Fritter Batter

A batter made from flour, egg yolks, olive oil, optional brandy or wine, and water, folded with beaten egg whites, used for frying.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

French Fritter Batter

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the batter

  1. Combine the flour, egg yolks, olive oil, and brandy, wine, or lemon juice if using in a bowl.

  2. Gradually add water until the mixture reaches the thickness of ordinary batter.

  3. Let the batter rest for at least 1 hour or up to a week.

Fry

  1. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks and fold them into the batter.

  2. Drop spoonfuls of the batter into hot oil and fry until golden brown.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Egg + brandytop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,340 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).

  3. Flour + olivetop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,871 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + brandytop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,181 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Olive + brandytop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together340 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-hex-3-en-1-ol (freshly cut grass green and herbaceous notes).

Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

All-purpose flour
Provides the starch and gluten that form the batter's structure as it sets in the hot oil.
Egg yolks
Add richness and help bind the batter so it holds together while frying.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they trap air that lightens the batter and helps the fritters puff.
Olive oil
Adds fat that tenderizes the batter and contributes to a crisp, golden crust.

The step that matters

Folding in the beaten egg whites. Stiff whites hold air bubbles that lift the batter. Overmixing or deflating them while folding makes the fritters dense and flat instead of light.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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