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French Fritters

A batter of flour, water, eggs, salt, and olive oil, fried until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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French Fritters

Why it works: Flour and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

French Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Combine the flour and cold water in a bowl.

  2. Beat the egg yolks.

  3. Stir the beaten yolks into the flour mixture gradually.

  4. Add more water if needed.

  5. Beat the mixture vigorously.

  6. Add the salt and olive oil.

  7. Fold in the beaten egg whites until stiff.

  8. Let the batter rest for 2 to 10 hours, depending on the season.

Fry and serve

  1. Heat oil in a kettle to 360°F (182°C).

  2. Spoon the batter into the hot oil.

  3. Fry until golden brown on one side.

  4. Flip to brown the other side.

  5. Remove with a skimmer.

  6. Avoid using a fork to prevent steam escape.

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.

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.

  1. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Flour + olivetop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,871 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Egg + olivetop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,340 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Flour and egg 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

Flour
Provides the structure that holds the batter together as it fries.
Eggs
Yolks enrich the batter, while whipped whites add lightness and help the fritters puff.
Olive oil
Adds richness and tenderness to the batter, and carries flavour.
Cold water
Hydrates the flour and keeps the batter light and crisp when fried.

The step that matters

Fold in the beaten egg whites until stiff. Stiff whites trap air that expands in the hot oil, giving a light, puffed texture. Under-whipped whites deflate, and overmixing them knocks out the air, leaving the fritters dense.

“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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