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Fried Mush

Fried Mush is a dish of mashed potatoes fried in clarified butter after coating with flour and beaten eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Fried Mush

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mush

  1. Prepare the Mush as directed in No. 588.

  2. Mix in 2 tablespoons of butter until well combined.

Set and cut

  1. Pour the Mush into a buttered square pan, about 2 inches thick.

  2. Cover with buttered paper to prevent a crust and let it cool.

  3. Once cold, cut into slices ¼ inch thick.

Fry and serve

  1. Dip each slice into beaten eggs, then coat with flour.

  2. Fry the slices in clarified butter until golden brown.

  3. Drain on a napkin and serve.

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. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Mush
Forms the firm body that holds its shape when cooled, sliced and fried.
Eggs
Bind the coating so the flour adheres and the slices hold together in the pan.
Flour
Forms a coating that browns in the hot fat, giving a crisp golden exterior.
Clarified butter
Fries the coated slices, browning them and adding rich flavour without burning as quickly as whole butter.

The step that matters

Let the mush cool completely before slicing. Cooling firms the starch so the slices keep their shape. Cutting warm mush makes it tear and fall apart, and it will not hold together in the frying.

“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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