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 ↓
Fried Pigs' Feet
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Make a batter by mixing flour, water, salt, and egg.
Fry and serve
Dip the pigs' feet in the batter to coat them.
Heat the fat until hot and fry the feet until golden brown.
Prepare drawn butter and mix in vinegar to serve with the feet.
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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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + vinegartop 27% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,652 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + vinegartop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,922 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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
- Forms the structure of the batter that coats and crisps around the feet.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and helps it set firmly during frying.
- Vinegar
- Adds a sharp acidity that cuts the richness of the butter served with the feet.
The step that matters
Heat the fat until hot before frying. If the fat is not hot enough, the batter absorbs oil and turns greasy instead of crisping and browning quickly. Hot fat sets the coating fast, keeping the feet moist inside and golden outside.
“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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