Name: Rhubarb Fritters
Ingredients: Tender rhubarb, cut into equal lengths; French batter (see page 130); Boiling lard or butter; Sifted sugar for serving

Why it works: Butter and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 98,233 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Rhubarb Fritters

Ingredients

Tender rhubarb, cut into equal lengths
French batter (see page 130)
Boiling lard or butter
Sifted sugar for serving

Directions

Prepare the rhubarb by peeling and cutting it into equal lengths.
Dip each stalk into the French batter, ensuring they are well coated.
Carefully place the coated rhubarb into a pan of boiling lard or butter.
Fry for 5 to 6 minutes until they are a light brown and crisp.
Drain the fritters well and serve on a napkin or piled high.
Sprinkle sifted sugar generously over the fritters before serving.

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.

Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Rhubarb + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,852 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Rhubarb + buttertop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together673 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).