Why it works: Almond and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,115 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
French Fritters
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Mix the beaten eggs with enough milk and flour to make a thick pancake batter.
Fry the batter in hot lard until pale.
Pound the pancake in a mortar until smooth.
Add the egg yolks, orange flower water, almond paste, sugar, and nutmeg to the batter and mix until smooth.
Fry the fritters
Heat a large stewpan half full of fine lard until hot.
Drop spoonfuls of the batter into the hot lard, the size of large nuts.
Turn the fritters as they brown until cooked through.
Remove the fritters onto clean paper in a dish and keep warm.
Serve
Serve immediately.
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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Almond + nutmegtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,115 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Orange + almondtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,125 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Orange + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,746 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Bind the batter and set into a tender, custard-like structure when cooked.
- Flour
- Provides the starch and gluten network that gives the batter body and holds the fritter's shape.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and thins the flour into a pourable batter that cooks through.
- Almonds
- Contribute richness, body and a nutty flavour to the batter.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the fritters brown at the surface as they fry.
- Lard
- Transfers heat quickly to the batter, cooking it through and crisping and browning the outside.
The step that matters
Frying in hot lard. The lard must be hot enough to set the batter quickly and brown it. If it is too cool, the fritters soak up grease and turn heavy; if it is too hot, the outside darkens before the centre cooks through.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, milk, flour, almond, sugar, nutmeg):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, flour, almond, sugar, 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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