Why it works: Corn and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,165 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Corn Oysters
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a bowl, combine the corn, eggs, baking powder, and salt.
Add flour gradually until the mixture can drop from a spoon.
Fry
Heat lard in a frying pan over medium-high heat.
Drop spoonfuls of the mixture into the hot lard and fry until golden brown on both sides.
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.
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Corn + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,165 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Corn + eggtop 26% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,484 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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 mixture together and help the fritters set when fried.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas that lightens the batter so fritters puff slightly.
- Flour
- Thickens the batter so it holds its shape in the hot lard.
- Corn
- Provides the main bulk, sweetness and texture of the fritters.
The step that matters
Drop spoonfuls into hot lard. If the lard is not hot enough, the batter absorbs fat and turns greasy instead of crisping. Starting with properly heated lard helps the outside set and brown quickly, keeping the inside tender.
“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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