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Cheese Fritters

Cheese fritters are small fried cakes made from a batter of flour, water, eggs, butter, and parmesan cheese.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Cheese Fritters

Why it works: Butter and parmesan cheese are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,163 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Cheese Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dough

  1. Boil the butter and water together.

  2. Add the flour and stir until a stiff paste forms.

  3. Remove from heat, season with salt, pepper, and cayenne, then mix in the cheese and beaten eggs.

Fry and serve

  1. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture into hot oil and fry until golden brown.

  2. Drain on paper towels, then serve hot.

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.

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.

  1. Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Parmesan cheese + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,322 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  4. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Flour
Forms the stiff paste that gives the fritters their body and structure.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set and puff as it fries.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savory flavor and some browning as it heats in the hot oil.
Butter
Adds richness and fat to the water-based dough, softening its texture.

The step that matters

Frying in hot oil. If the oil is not hot enough, the fritters absorb oil and turn greasy instead of crisping. Hot oil sets the outside quickly, so the inside cooks through with a golden crust.

“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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