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Apple Fritters

Apple fritters are sliced apples soaked in brandy and powdered sugar, dipped in batter, fried in lard, and dusted with powdered sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Brandy and apple are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,291 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Apple Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Prepare the frying batter according to recipe No. 371.

  2. Slice the apples about ¼ inch thick.

  3. Soak the apple slices in a basin with ½ cup brandy and ½ pound powdered sugar for 1 hour.

Fry and serve

  1. Dip the soaked apples into the batter.

  2. Fry the apples in lard until they are a nice light brown.

  3. Drain the fritters.

  4. Serve, sifting powdered sugar over them before serving.

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. Brandy + appletop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,291 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Sugar + appletop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together16,478 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Brandy + sugartop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,939 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Sugar and apple barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 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

Apples
Provide the fruit that is coated in batter and fried into the fritters.
Brandy
Soaks into the apple slices, adding aroma and flavor to the fruit.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the apples during soaking and adds a sweet finish when sifted on top.
Frying batter
Forms a crisp coating around the apple slices as it fries.

The step that matters

Fry the apples in lard until light brown. Frying at the right heat sets the batter quickly so it turns crisp without absorbing excess fat. Too cool and the fritters turn greasy; too hot and the outside browns before the apple is cooked through.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (brandy, sugar):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against brandy, sugar. 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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