Why it works: Wheat and olive match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,100 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓
Apple Fritters
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Combine whole-wheat flour, egg yolks, milk, and olive oil in a bowl and beat until smooth.
Grate the peeled apples into the batter and mix well.
Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then fold them into the batter.
Fry and serve
Heat oil in a pan and drop spoonfuls of the batter into the hot oil, frying until golden brown.
Serve as desired.
You can also use other fruits like prunes or peaches.
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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Wheat + olivetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,100 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Wheat + milktop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,418 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
-
Milk + appletop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,104 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
-
Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,373 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Olive + appletop 13% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,565 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Whole-wheat flour
- Provides the structure that holds the fritters together.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and help bind the batter.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they lighten the batter and help it rise.
- Apples
- Add moisture and sweetness to the batter.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour and makes a smooth, pourable batter.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten egg whites. Stiff whites hold air that gives the fritters lightness. Folding gently keeps that air in, while vigorous stirring would deflate the batter and make the fritters dense.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (wheat, flour, egg, milk, olive):
- Vanillafits better
- Avocadofits better
- Figfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against wheat, flour, egg, milk, olive. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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