Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Fritter Batter
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
In a bowl, sift the flour with baking powder and salt.
In another bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar together, then add the butter or oil.
Beat the mixture hard for one minute, then add the milk.
Gradually mix in the flour, alternating with the stiffly beaten egg whites.
Do not mix until you are ready to cook the fritters.
Fry and drain
Drop large spoonfuls of the batter into hot fat, a few at a time.
Fry until golden brown, then remove with a skimmer and drain in a hot colander.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Eggs
- Yolks enrich the batter and stiffly beaten whites lighten it and help it rise.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas when heated, leavening the fritters so they puff and stay light.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides starch and gluten that build the batter's structure as the fritters set.
- Butter or olive oil
- Adds fat for richer flavor and a tender crumb.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that hydrates the flour and gives the batter its body.
The step that matters
Do not mix until you are ready to cook the fritters. Once the flour and whipped whites are combined, the leavening starts working and gluten develops. Batter left to stand or overmixed loses its lift and turns dense and tough.
“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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