Why it works: Flour and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
Fritters
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Boil the flour in a pot, stirring constantly until it forms a stiff paste.
Transfer the paste to a large bowl and let it cool slightly.
Mix in the first egg thoroughly, then add the second and third eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Let the batter rest for 2 to 3 hours.
Fry and serve
Heat the fat in a deep pan until boiling.
Dip a teaspoon in the hot fat.
Scoop half a teaspoon of batter and drop it into the fat.
Repeat until all the batter is used.
Cook each fritter until golden and swollen like an apricot.
Serve the fritters on a doily with castor sugar sprinkled on top.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Cooked into a stiff paste, it forms the starch structure that holds the fritter together.
- Eggs
- Add protein that sets during frying and helps the fritters puff and hold their shape.
- Fat
- Hot fat cooks the batter quickly, browning the outside and giving a rich, crisp surface.
The step that matters
Heating the fat until boiling before dropping in the batter. If the fat is not hot enough, the batter absorbs oil and turns greasy instead of sealing and puffing. Fat that is too hot browns the outside before the centre cooks 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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