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Beef Fritters

Beef fritters are small fried patties made from shredded roast beef mixed with a batter of flour, water, butter, and egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Beef Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Mix the flour with the water until smooth.

  2. Stir in the melted butter.

  3. Just before using, add the whisked egg whites.

  4. If the batter is too thick, add more water.

Prepare the beef

  1. Cut the cold beef into thin shreds and season with pepper and salt.

  2. Mix the beef with the batter.

Fry and serve

  1. Drop small amounts into a pan of boiling lard.

  2. Fry for 7 to 10 minutes, turning to brown both sides.

  3. Let them dry for a minute before serving on a folded napkin.

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. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Beef + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,847 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Flour and butter 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

Flour
Forms the batter structure that holds the fritters together when fried.
Whites of 2 eggs
Whisked into the batter to add lightness and help the fritters rise and set.
Butter
Stirred into the batter to add richness and tenderness to the crumb.
Remains of cold roast beef
Provides the savory meat filling that is bound into the batter.

The step that matters

Add the whisked egg whites just before using the batter. Whisked egg whites trap air that lightens the batter, but they lose that lift if left to stand, so they should be folded in just before 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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