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Dessert

Apple Fritters

A batter of eggs, cream, wine, ale, spices, and flour is folded with apples and fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Ginger and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,324 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Apple Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Beat the yolks of 8 eggs and the whites of 4 eggs together, then strain into a pan.

  2. Heat 1 quart of cream until scalding hot.

  3. Add ½ cup of sack and ¾ pint of ale to the cream and mix well.

  4. Let the mixture cool, then combine it with the eggs, beating well.

  5. Add salt, ginger, nutmeg, and flour to make a thick batter.

Fry and serve

  1. Fold in the sliced apples and fry in hot oil until golden brown.

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. Ginger + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,324 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Ginger + appletop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,424 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Wine + appletop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,207 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  5. Nutmeg + appletop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,790 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Yolks and whites bind the batter and help it set and hold its shape when fried.
Cream
Adds richness and moisture, giving the batter a tender, custardy texture.
All-purpose flour
Thickens the batter so it clings to the apple slices and holds together in the hot oil.
Apples
Provide the main fruit flavour and some moisture that softens as they cook.
Ale
Adds liquid and a light malty flavour, and its gas can lighten the batter.

The step that matters

Let the mixture cool before combining it with the eggs. Adding hot cream directly to beaten eggs can scramble the eggs and leave lumps, so the batter stays smooth only if the cream has cooled first.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, cream, wine, ginger, nutmeg, flour):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Lemonfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, cream, wine, ginger, nutmeg, flour. 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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