Why it works: Egg and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 22,662 recipes. Both carry (e)-2-octenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Fried Squash
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pare and slice the squash into ¼‑inch thick slices.
Dust the slices with salt and pepper.
Dip each slice in beaten egg, then coat with bread crumbs.
Fry and serve
Heat lard in a pan until hot.
Fry the squash slices until browned on one side, then flip and brown the other side, adding more lard as needed.
Drain on paper towels and serve hot.
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.
-
Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
-
Pepper + breadtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,964 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Pepper + eggtop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together50,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Pepper and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 50,580 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
- Squash
- Forms the tender, moist interior that the crisp coating surrounds.
- Egg
- Binds the bread crumbs to the squash so the coating adheres during frying.
- Bread crumbs
- Form a crisp, golden-brown crust when fried in fat.
- Lard
- Conducts heat to brown the coating and adds rich flavor to the crust.
The step that matters
Heat the lard until hot before frying. If the lard is not hot enough, the coating absorbs more fat and turns greasy and pale instead of crisping. Hot fat sets the crumb crust quickly, so the slices brown well and stay less oily.
“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.
You might also like
Brown Bread461 recipes
White Bread80 recipes
Bread Omelette60 recipes
Oatmeal Bread51 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.