Why it works: Brandy and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,939 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Sweet Fritters of Celery
Ingredients
Directions
Wash and blanch the upper parts of the celery stalks in boiling water.
Transfer to cold water and drain.
Tie the celery in a bundle and boil thoroughly.
Let the celery cool, then sprinkle with brandy and dust with sugar.
Fry in batter until golden brown and serve with powdered sugar.
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.
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Brandy + sugartop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Celery + brandytop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together217 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Celery + sugartop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,794 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Brandy and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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
Swap the celery
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (brandy, sugar):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Gingerfits better
- Celerythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against brandy, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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