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Semolina Fritters

Semolina fritters are savory pastries made from semolina paste filled with mince, coated in egg and breadcrumbs, and fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Semolina and parsley work together. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 45 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Semolina Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Make the semolina paste

  1. Boil semolina in enough broth to form a paste.

  2. Let it cool, then roll it out to ¼ inch thick.

Shape the fritters

  1. Line small tartlet molds with the semolina paste.

  2. Fill the hollow with mince and cover with more semolina paste.

  3. Pinch the edges securely and remove from molds.

  4. Dip in beaten egg and breadcrumbs.

Fry and serve

  1. Fry in boiling fat until golden brown.

  2. Drain on a cloth and garnish with fried parsley.

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. Semolina + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together45 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Egg + parsleytop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,765 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Semolina + eggtop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together327 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

Semolina
Forms the firm paste that encloses the filling and holds the shape.
Egg
Binds the breadcrumb coating so it adheres to the fritter.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden browned outer crust when fried.
Mince
Provides the savoury filling inside the semolina casing.

The step that matters

Pinch the edges securely. If the seams are not sealed, the filling can leak out during frying and the fritter can fall apart in the hot fat. A tight seal keeps the mince enclosed while the semolina sets and the outside browns.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (semolina, egg):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Jalapenofits better
  3. Capersfits about as well
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against semolina, egg. 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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