Why it works: Vinegar and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,814 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Meat Fritters
Ingredients
Directions
Marinate
Marinate the meat slices in melted butter or oil, vinegar, pepper, and salt for some time, turning occasionally.
Fry
Drain the meat, dip it in seasoned batter, and fry in boiling fat until golden.
For a quicker option, sprinkle the meat with pepper, salt, lemon juice, and herbs, dip in batter, and fry.
Alternatively, chop the meat finely, season to taste, and mix with the batter before frying.
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.
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Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Meat + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,594 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Meat + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,777 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + vinegartop 23% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,513 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Meat
- Forms the filling of each fritter, giving the bite and savoury flavour of the dish.
- Seasoned batter
- Coats the meat and crisps into a golden shell when fried in hot fat.
- Melted butter or oil
- Adds fat that carries seasoning into the meat and keeps it moist.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that tenderises the meat slightly during marinating.
The step that matters
Fry in boiling fat until golden. The fat must be hot enough to crisp the batter quickly. If it is too cool, the batter absorbs fat and turns greasy, and the cold meat inside may not heat through.
“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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