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Squash-fritters

Squash fritters are small cakes made from mashed squash, butter, pepper, flour, and egg, fried in lard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Squash-fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Boil the squash until tender, then mash it until smooth.

  2. Mix in the butter and pepper, then add the flour and beaten egg.

Shape and fry

  1. Form the mixture into small cakes.

  2. Fry the cakes in hot lard 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. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

Butter and flour 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

Squash
Supplies the bulk and moisture that make the fritter mixture soft and tender.
All-purpose flour
Provides starch and structure that help the cakes hold their shape while frying.
Large egg
Binds the mashed squash and flour together so the cakes hold together.
Butter
Adds fat for richer flavor and a softer, more tender interior.
Lard
Serves as the hot frying fat that browns the outside of the cakes.

The step that matters

Frying in hot lard until golden brown. If the lard is not hot enough, the cakes absorb more fat and turn greasy and pale. Enough heat sets the outside quickly, so the browning forms and the inside cooks without soaking up oil.

“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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