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Salsify Fritters

A fried batter of grated salsify, egg, milk, and flour, seasoned with salt and pepper, served hot.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Salsify Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. Scrape, wash, and grate the salsify roots.

  2. In a bowl, mix the grated salsify with the beaten egg, milk, and enough flour to create a very thin batter.

  3. Season with coarse sea salt and black pepper.

Fry and serve

  1. Drop large spoonfuls of the mixture into boiling lard or dripping.

  2. Drain in a hot colander and serve immediately.

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. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Milk + peppertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together26,984 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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

Salsify roots
Provide the main body and mild, earthy flavour of the fritters.
Beaten egg
Binds the grated salsify together and helps the fritters hold their shape.
Milk
Adds moisture to loosen the batter so it spreads and cooks through.
Flour
Thickens the mixture so it coats the salsify and forms a sturdy fritter.
Boiling lard or dripping
Conducts heat to crisp the outside and brown the fritters while frying.

The step that matters

Drop the mixture into boiling fat. Fat that is not hot enough lets the batter soak up grease and turn heavy instead of crisp. Starting in properly boiling fat seals the outside quickly so the fritters brown and hold their shape.

“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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