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Dessert

Apple Fritters

A batter of flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, milk, eggs, and sliced apples fried until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and apple are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,104 recipes. Both carry 4-heptenal, which smells creamy, biscuit. The science ↓

Apple Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. In a bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

  2. In another bowl, whisk together milk and eggs.

  3. Combine wet and dry ingredients until just mixed.

  4. Fold in the sliced apples.

Fry and drain

  1. Heat oil in a deep pan over medium heat.

  2. Drop spoonfuls of batter into the hot oil and fry until golden brown, about 5-8 minutes.

  3. Remove fritters and drain on paper towels.

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. Milk + appletop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,104 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  2. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  4. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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

All-purpose flour
Provides the main structure that holds the batter together while it fries.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure as the proteins set during frying.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the fritters puff and turn light.
Milk
Hydrates the flour and gives the batter its liquid base and tender texture.
Apples
Add moisture and fruity flavor inside the fritters.

The step that matters

Dropping batter into the hot oil. If the oil is not hot enough, fritters absorb grease and turn heavy and soggy. If it is too hot, the outside browns before the centre cooks. Steady medium heat lets the batter set and cook through while turning golden.

Swap the apple

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, milk, 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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