Why it works: Milk and corn are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,955 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓
Corn Fritters
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Separate the egg yolks and whites.
In a bowl, mix the yolks with corn, salt, milk, and enough flour to form a batter. Beat the mixture well.
Gently fold in the beaten egg whites.
Fry
Heat lard in a pan.
Drop spoonfuls of batter into the hot lard and fry until both sides are light brown.
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.
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Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Corn + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,165 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Whites beaten and folded in add air, giving the fritters a lighter, fluffier texture.
- Flour
- Forms the batter body that holds the corn together and lets the fritters set while frying.
- Milk
- Adds moisture to the batter, loosening it and keeping the interior tender.
- Green corn
- Provides the main body, sweetness and flavor of the fritters.
- Lard
- Fries the batter in hot fat, browning the outside and crisping the surface.
The step that matters
Gently fold in the beaten egg whites. Egg whites hold air only while they are intact. Stirring vigorously deflates them, so folding gently keeps the batter light and prevents dense fritters.
“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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