Why it works: Lemon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Fritter Batter
Ingredients
Directions
Stir the salt into the yolks of the eggs.
Slowly add the olive oil, then the brandy and sugar (omit brandy if desired and use a little more oil).
Mix well, then stir in the flour gradually.
Add the tepid water a little at a time and beat well.
Set aside for 2-3 hours.
Before using, stir in the beaten egg whites until stiff.
The batter should be light, thick, and able to coat the item it covers.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Olive + lemontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,922 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Olive + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,263 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Egg + oystertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,103 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, flour, olive, sugar, brandy, oyster, pepper):
- Lemonthe original
- Figfits about as well
- Plumfits less well
- Cherryfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, flour, olive, sugar, brandy, oyster, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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