Skip to main content
Dessert

Fruit Custard Fritters

Fruit custard fritters are fried pieces of custard made from fruit, sugar, milk, eggs, and breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Fruit Custard Fritters

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the syrup

  1. Boil 1 pound fruit with 1 pound sugar until dissolved.

  2. Strain the syrup and let it cool.

Make the custard

  1. In a bowl, mix ½ cup fruit syrup, ½ cup milk, and ½ pound sugar.

  2. Add 6 eggs one at a time, beating constantly.

  3. Strain the mixture into a shallow dish.

  4. Bake in a water bath at 350°F (175°C) until set.

  5. Cool the custard.

  6. Cut the custard into pieces.

Bread and fry

  1. Roll the pieces in bread crumbs.

  2. Dip the pieces in beaten egg.

  3. Roll the pieces in crumbs again.

  4. Fry in hot fat until golden brown.

  5. Drain the fritters on brown paper before serving.

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. Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  3. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  4. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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

Eggs
Set the custard and bind it so the pieces hold their shape.
Milk
Adds moisture and softness to the custard base.
Granulated sugar
Sweetens the custard and helps the fruit syrup form a thick base.
Fruit syrup
Adds fruit flavor and moisture to the custard.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating when fried.

The step that matters

Bake in a water bath until set. Gentle, even heat from the water bath keeps the eggs from overcooking, so the custard sets smooth and firm rather than curdled or cracked. Cool it fully before cutting so the pieces hold their shape in the hot fat.

“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

Bread PuddingBread Pudding153 recipesSoft Ginger BreadSoft Ginger Bread85 recipesOrange Potato BreadOrange Potato Bread80 recipesBrown Bread PuddingBrown Bread Pudding47 recipes