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Dessert

Apple Fritters

Apple fritters are fried apple batter cakes dusted with powdered sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Apple Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the apples

  1. Pare, core, and parboil the apples in a little water until tender; chop finely.

  2. Drop thick slices of raw apple into the hot lard to reduce the odor.

Make the batter

  1. In a bowl, beat the eggs until very light.

  2. Gradually add the flour and baking powder to the eggs, beating until light.

  3. Stir in enough chopped apples to thicken the batter, along with the lemon rind and juice.

Fry and serve

  1. Heat lard in a pan until boiling.

  2. Spoon the batter into the hot lard, making as many fritters as the pan can hold.

  3. Fry until golden brown, about a few moments, without turning.

  4. Serve immediately, dusted with powdered sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,598 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  3. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Beaten until light, they trap air and give the fritters a light, airy structure.
All-purpose flour
Forms the batter's body, setting into a firm fritter as it fries.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, helping the fritters rise and stay light.
Tart apples
Add moisture, fruity flavor and bulk that thickens the batter.
Lard
Fries the batter quickly, browning the outside and sealing in moisture.

The step that matters

Drop the batter into very hot lard. The lard must be boiling hot so the batter sets and browns quickly on contact. If the fat is too cool, the fritters soak up grease and turn heavy and greasy instead of crisp and golden.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, flour, lemon, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Blueberryfits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, flour, lemon, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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