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Rhubarb Fritters

Fried rhubarb coated in caster sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Rhubarb and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 670 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Rhubarb Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. Roll the rhubarb pieces in caster sugar and set aside until the sugar penetrates.

  2. In a bowl, mix flour, salad oil, milk, and egg until well combined.

Fry and serve

  1. Heat boiling lard in a deep pan.

  2. Dip the rhubarb pieces into the batter and fry until crisp.

  3. Roll each fritter in caster sugar and serve immediately.

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. Rhubarb + flourtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together670 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  4. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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

Rhubarb
Provides the tart filling that contrasts with the sweet coating.
Egg
Binds the batter and helps it set around the rhubarb as it fries.
All-purpose flour
Forms the structure of the batter so it clings to the fruit.
Caster sugar
Sweetens the rhubarb and forms a crisp, sweet coating on the outside.
Salad oil
Adds fat that keeps the batter tender and helps it brown.

The step that matters

Dip the rhubarb pieces into the batter and fry until crisp.. The lard must be very hot before the battered pieces go in. Hot fat sets the batter quickly, so the fritters crisp and absorb less grease instead of turning soggy.

Swap the rhubarb

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour, milk, egg):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Jalapenofits better
  4. Rhubarbthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour, milk, egg. 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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