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Indian Fritters

A batter of Indian meal, wheat flour, eggs, milk, and salt fried in lard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Wheat and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,418 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓

Indian Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Mix the Indian meal and salt in a bowl.

  2. Stir in enough milk to create a thick batter.

  3. Whisk the egg yolks until thick and light, then stir into the batter.

  4. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks and fold them into the mixture alternately with the flour.

  5. Do not beat the mixture after adding the egg whites to avoid toughness.

Fry and serve

  1. Heat lard in a pan, then drop spoonfuls of the batter into the hot lard.

  2. Fry until golden brown on both sides.

  3. Serve immediately, as they will become heavy if left to stand.

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. Wheat + milktop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  2. Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Flour and milk 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
Yolks enrich and lighten the batter, while whipped whites add air that gives the fritters lift.
Indian meal
Cornmeal forms the main structure of the batter as it sets in hot fat.
Wheat flour
Adds gluten-based structure and helps the whipped whites fold in to a stable batter.
Milk
Hydrates the meal and flour so the mixture forms a thick, spoonable batter.
Lard
Fries the batter quickly, creating a golden brown crust and rich flavor.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Stiff egg whites trap air that makes the fritters light. Overbeating after they are added knocks out this air and toughens the batter, so fold gently and stop as soon as the mixture is combined.

“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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