Why it works: Sugar and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
Jolly Boys
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a bowl, mix sugar, flour, egg, scalded cornmeal, salt, and baking soda until smooth.
Fry
Heat fat in a deep pan until it smokes.
Drop tablespoonfuls of the batter into the hot fat.
Fry until golden brown, then remove with a skimmer.
Serve
Drain excess fat, pile fritters in a hot dish, and sift sugar over them.
Serve immediately.
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.
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Egg
- Binds the batter so the fritters hold their shape while frying.
- Flour
- Provides structure, helping the fritters set and hold together in the hot fat.
- Cornmeal
- Forms the main body of the fritters, giving them their coarse, corn-based texture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the exterior brown in the hot fat.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the batter to lighten it and encourage rising and browning.
The step that matters
Heat the fat until it smokes. The fat must be very hot before the batter goes in. If it is too cool, the fritters absorb excess fat, turn greasy and cook unevenly instead of browning quickly on the outside.
“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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