Why it works: Corn and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,955 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓
Corn Fritters
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a bowl, mix the sweet corn, eggs, sugar, sweet milk, flour, salt, and baking powder until well combined.
Heat a small amount of lard in a frying pan over medium heat.
Fry and serve
Drop spoonfuls of the mixture into the hot lard and fry until golden brown on both sides.
Remove from the pan and drain on paper towels before serving.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Corn + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Corn + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,165 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and help the fritters hold their shape while frying.
- Flour
- Thickens the batter so it holds together in spoonfuls rather than spreading.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, making the fritters lighter and puffier.
- Sweet corn
- Provides the main body, texture and sweet flavour of the fritters.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the surface brown in the pan.
The step that matters
Fry until golden brown on both sides. The batter is thick and cooks from the outside in, so the fritters can look browned while still raw inside if the heat is too high. Medium heat lets the centre set while the outside browns evenly.
“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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