Why it works: Pepper and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 33% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 50,580 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Fried Squash
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Peel the squash thinly and cut it into slices ¼ inch thick.
Sprinkle each slice with salt and pepper.
Coat and fry
Dip each slice in the beaten egg, then coat with cracker crumbs.
Heat oil in a frying pan and fry the slices until crisp and brown.
Drain and serve
Drain well and serve.
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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Pepper + eggtop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together50,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Pepper and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 50,580 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
- Summer squash
- Provides the tender, moist interior that contrasts with the crisp coating.
- Egg
- Acts as a binder so the cracker crumbs stick to the squash slices.
- Cracker crumbs
- Form the coating that becomes crisp and browned when fried.
- Oil
- Conducts heat to crisp and brown the coating and cook the squash.
The step that matters
Frying until crisp and brown. The oil must be hot enough to set the crumb coating quickly. If it is too cool, the coating soaks up oil and turns greasy instead of crisp. Draining well removes excess oil so the crust stays crisp.
“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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