Why it works: Pepper and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 50,459 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Fried Squash, Boston Style
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Peel the squash and cut it into scallops ½ inch thick.
Boil the squash in water for 3 minutes, then drain.
Place the squash in a bowl, season with salt and pepper, and let sit for 1 hour, tossing occasionally.
Fry and serve
Dry the squash on a napkin, roll in flour, and fry in hot lard.
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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Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 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
- Squash
- Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender inside while the outside fries.
- Flour
- Coats the squash so its surface browns and crisps when fried.
- Lard
- Hot frying fat that cooks the coating quickly into a browned, crisp exterior.
The step that matters
Dry the squash before rolling in flour. Surface water turns the flour pasty and steams the squash instead of letting the coating crisp in hot lard. Patting the pieces dry on a napkin helps the coating stick and fry evenly.
“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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