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Dessert

Cream Fritters

A batter of flour, milk, eggs, nutmeg, cream, and salt is fried into golden fritters.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Flour and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,623 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Cream Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. In a large bowl, mix the flour and milk until smooth.

  2. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl until frothy, then stir them into the batter.

  3. Add the grated nutmeg, heavy cream, and salt, and mix until well combined.

Fry and drain

  1. Heat oil in a frying pan and drop spoonfuls of the batter into the hot oil.

  2. Fry until golden brown on both sides, then remove and drain on paper towels.

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. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Nutmeg + creamtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,685 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, 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

All-purpose flour
Provides the main structure of the batter as it sets in the hot oil.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, helping the fritters hold together and set.
Heavy cream
Adds fat and richness, giving the fritters a tender, moist interior.
Milk
Hydrates the flour so the batter forms a smooth, pourable base.

The step that matters

Frying the spoonfuls in hot oil. The oil must be hot enough so the batter sets and browns quickly on the outside. If the oil is too cool, the fritters absorb excess oil and turn greasy and heavy before they cook through.

“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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