Why it works: Sugar and sauce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,147 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Plain Fritters
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Mix flour and milk to form a smooth batter.
Add beaten eggs and beat until perfectly smooth.
Fry and serve
Drop by teaspoonful into hot drippings and fry until golden brown, turning as needed.
Drain and sift powdered sugar over fritters, or serve with fruit sauce or maple syrup.
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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Sugar + saucetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,147 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + saucetop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,078 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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
- Flour
- Forms the batter's structure, setting as it cooks into a light, tender body.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and help the fritters set and hold their shape while frying.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour into a smooth batter and adds moisture to the fritters.
The step that matters
Drop by teaspoonful into hot drippings and fry until golden brown, turning as needed.. The drippings must be hot enough for the batter to set quickly on contact. If the fat is too cool, the fritters absorb grease and turn heavy. Turning them as needed lets both sides brown evenly.
“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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