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Dessert

Apple Fritters

Apple fritters made by mixing flour, sugar, salt, water, olive oil, egg white, and sliced apples, then frying.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Olive and apple match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,565 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, fruity. The science ↓

Apple Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. In a bowl, mix flour, sugar, and salt.

  2. Gradually add water, then mix in olive oil and beaten egg white until stiff.

  3. Peel, core, and slice the apples into eighths, then cut the eighths into slices.

  4. Stir the apple slices into the batter.

Fry and serve

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

  2. Drain on brown paper and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

  3. Serve hot.

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. Olive + appletop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,565 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  2. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Sugar + appletop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together16,478 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Flour
Forms the structure of the batter that holds the fritter together.
Egg white
Beaten until stiff, it adds lightness and helps the fritters puff while frying.
Apples
Provide moisture, tartness, and fruity flavor that contrast with the sweet coating.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the fritters brown in the hot oil.

The step that matters

Frying the batter in hot oil. If the oil is not hot enough, the batter absorbs oil and turns greasy instead of crisping. If it is too hot, the outside browns before the apple and batter cook through. Steady medium-high heat gives a crisp, golden exterior.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, olive, egg):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Lemonfits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, olive, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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