Why it works: Apple and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,291 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Apple Fritters^ JBeignets De Pommes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the apples
Pare and core the apples, then cut them into slices a quarter of an inch thick.
Soak the apple slices in brandy and sugar for half an hour.
Fry and serve
Dip the soaked apple slices in powdered sugar, then in the batter.
Fry the fritters quickly until golden brown.
Dust with powdered sugar and serve on a napkin.
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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Apple + brandytop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,291 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Brandy + sugartop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Apple and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 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
- Apples
- Provide the fruit that becomes tender and sweet inside the crisp batter coating.
- Brandy
- Adds aroma and flavour to the apple slices during soaking.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the apple slices and adds flavour during soaking.
- Batter
- Forms a crisp, golden coating that encloses the apple slices as they fry.
The step that matters
Fry the fritters quickly until golden brown. Frying at a high, steady heat crisps the batter and browns it before the apple inside turns soft and greasy. Too little heat lets the coating absorb oil and become heavy.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (brandy, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Apricotfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against brandy, 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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