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Rhubarb Fritters

Fried rhubarb pieces coated in French batter, served with sifted sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 98,233 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Rhubarb Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Prepare the rhubarb by peeling and cutting it into equal lengths.

  2. Dip the rhubarb stalks into the French batter, lifting them separately with a fork.

Fry and serve

  1. Heat lard or butter in a pan until boiling.

  2. Fry the battered rhubarb for 5 to 6 minutes until light brown and crisp.

  3. Drain the fritters well and serve on a napkin or piled high.

  4. Sprinkle sifted sugar generously over the fritters 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. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Rhubarb + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,852 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  3. Rhubarb + buttertop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Rhubarb
Forms the tender filling inside the crisp batter coating.
French batter
Forms a crisp, golden coating that seals in moisture while frying.
Lard or butter
Conducts heat for frying and adds browning and rich flavour to the crust.
Sifted sugar
Adds sweetness and contrasts with the tart rhubarb.

The step that matters

Frying the battered rhubarb. The fat must be hot enough before the fritters go in. If it is too cool, the batter absorbs fat and turns greasy instead of crisping. Draining well after frying also keeps the coating crisp.

Swap the rhubarb

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Gingerfits about as well
  4. Rhubarbthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, 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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