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Dessert

Almond Fritters

A light, sweet almond fritter made with ground almonds, cornflour, eggs, sugar, and vanilla, fried in clarified butter or olive oil.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,961 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Almond Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. In a bowl, stir the egg yolks and sugar together until creamy.

  2. Add the ground almonds, vanilla, and cornflour to the mixture.

  3. Whisk the egg whites until stiff and gently fold them into the mixture.

Fry and serve

  1. Heat the frying fat in a pan.

  2. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture into the hot fat and fry until pale brown.

  3. Drain the fritters and serve hot.

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. Almond + vanillatop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,961 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Vanilla + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Eggs
Whites trapped as foam give the fritters a light, airy structure, while yolks add richness.
Ground almonds
Provide the main body and nutty flavour of the fritters.
Cornflour
Helps the batter hold its shape and gives a tender, set texture.
Castor sugar
Sweetens the batter and helps the yolks become creamy when beaten.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Whites beaten to stiff peaks hold air that lightens the batter. Folding gently keeps that air in; vigorous stirring deflates the foam and produces dense fritters.

“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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