Skip to main content
Main

Mock Oysters of Corn

A fried corn batter shaped like oysters.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Corn and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,324 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Mock Oysters of Corn

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. Grate the corn off the ears into a bowl.

  2. Mix the grated corn with flour and egg yolks until well combined.

  3. Season the mixture with coarse sea salt and black pepper.

Fry

  1. In a pan, heat equal parts lard and butter until boiling.

  2. Drop spoonfuls of the batter into the hot fat, shaping them to resemble oysters.

  3. Fry until they are nearly an inch thick and 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. Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,324 recipes

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

  2. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Corn + flourtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,165 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Corn + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,345 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Green corn
Provides the main body and sweet corn flavour of the fritters.
Flour
Helps bind the grated corn so the batter holds its shape in the fat.
Egg yolks
Add richness and help bind the batter together.
Lard
Heats the batter with fat, helping it brown and crisp on the outside.
Butter
Adds flavour and helps the fritters turn golden brown.

The step that matters

Drop the batter into hot fat. The fat must be hot enough that the batter sears on contact. If it is too cool, the fritters absorb grease and turn heavy instead of crisp and golden.

“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

Corn FrittersCorn Fritters203 recipesCream of Corn SoupCream of Corn Soup50 recipesGreen Corn SoupGreen Corn Soup46 recipesCornmeal GruelCornmeal Gruel41 recipes