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Dessert

Beetroot Fritters

A fried batter coating of cooked beetroot mixed with egg yolks, flour, lemon zest, nutmeg, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,318 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Beetroot Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Pass the beetroot through a fine sieve.

  2. Sprinkle in the flour, then add the egg yolks, lemon zest, and nutmeg.

  3. Sweeten to taste.

  4. Stir over low heat for 10 minutes.

  5. Set aside to cool.

Fry and serve

  1. Drop the mixture by dessert spoonfuls into the batter.

  2. Drain slightly.

  3. Fry in hot fat until crisp and lightly browned.

  4. Drain well.

  5. Serve dusted with powdered sugar.

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. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Beetroot + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together124 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Beetroot + flourtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together515 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Beetroot + lemontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together574 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Beetroot
Provides the main body, colour and earthy flavour of the fritters.
Egg yolks
Bind the mixture and set when heated, giving it a richer, tender texture.
Flour
Thickens the beetroot purée so it holds its shape when spooned and cooked.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the earthiness of the beetroot.

The step that matters

Stir over low heat for 10 minutes. Gentle heat lets the flour starch thicken the purée and cook the egg yolks without scrambling them. Too much heat can curdle the yolks or scorch the bottom of the pan.

Swap the apple

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

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Limefits better
  3. Orangefits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beetroot, egg, flour, sugar, lemon, 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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