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Dessert

Apple Fritters

Apple fritters are fried apple slices coated in batter, served with wine and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Brandy and wine are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,427 recipes. Both carry gamma-nonanolactone, which smells coconut, sweet. The science ↓

Apple Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and fry

  1. Slice the apples into ¼-inch thick rounds.

  2. Dip the apple slices in brandy, then roll them in the batter.

  3. Fry the coated apple slices in hot lard until light brown.

Serve

  1. Serve with wine and sugar.

  2. Alternatively, chop the apples and stir them into the batter before frying.

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.

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. Brandy + winetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,427 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  2. Apple + winetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,207 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  3. Apple + brandytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,291 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together16,478 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Brandy + sugartop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,939 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Apple and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 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

Apples
Provide the fruit that softens and turns sweet as it fries inside the batter.
Brandy
Adds a boozy aroma and flavor to the apple slices before coating.
Batter
Forms a coating that crisps and browns in hot fat around the apple.
Lard
Fat that conducts heat to brown and crisp the batter coating.

The step that matters

Fry the coated apple slices in hot lard until light brown. Hot fat sets the batter quickly so it crisps rather than soaking up oil. Frying until light brown gives color and flavor while keeping the apple tender.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (brandy, sugar, wine):

  1. Vanillafits about as well
  2. Apricotfits about as well
  3. Applethe original
  4. Grapefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against brandy, sugar, wine. 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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