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Brain Fritters

Brain fritters are boiled and marinated brains coated in batter and fried, served with fried parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Brain Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the brains

  1. Wash the brains in salt and water.

  2. Place the brains in a saucepan and cover with cold water.

  3. Add 2 teaspoons of vinegar and a little salt.

  4. Boil for about 5 minutes.

  5. Let the brains cool in cold water.

  6. Drain the brains well.

  7. Cut the brains into neat pieces.

Marinate

  1. Sprinkle the oil, parsley, shallot, 1 teaspoon of vinegar, and a little salt and pepper over the pieces.

  2. Marinate for about 30 minutes, turning them two or three times.

Fry and serve

  1. Prepare the batter.

  2. Coat each piece carefully.

  3. Fry in hot fat until nicely browned.

  4. Drain the fried pieces well.

  5. Serve on a folded napkin, garnished with fried parsley.

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. Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Shallot + vinegartop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,374 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  4. Parsley + vinegartop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,477 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Butter + shallottop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Brains
Form the main body of the fritter, with a soft, delicate texture once cooked.
Batter
Forms a crisp coating that encloses the brain pieces while they fry.
Salad oil or liquid butter
Adds richness and moisture to the marinade, carrying the flavours onto the brain pieces.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and helps firm the brains during boiling.
Shallot or onion
Adds a mild savoury sharpness that flavours the marinade.

The step that matters

Frying in hot fat until nicely browned. If the fat is not hot enough, the batter absorbs oil and turns greasy rather than crisp, and the coating may not set before the inside overheats.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Parsleythe original
  4. Thymefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, shallot, vinegar. 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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