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Potato Fritters

A fried batter of mashed potatoes, eggs, and flour, seasoned with salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,355 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Potato Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. In a bowl, combine the mashed potatoes, beaten eggs, and flour.

  2. Season with coarse sea salt to taste and mix thoroughly.

  3. Let the mixture stand for 30 minutes.

Fry and drain

  1. Heat oil in a pan over medium‑high heat.

  2. Drop tablespoonfuls of the potato mixture into the hot oil.

  3. Fry until golden brown, then drain on paper towels.

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. Potato + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,355 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Potato + eggtop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,978 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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

Mashed potatoes
Provide the bulk and starch that give the fritters their body and soft interior.
Eggs
Bind the mixture together so the fritters hold their shape while frying.
All-purpose flour
Absorbs moisture and helps the fritters firm up and brown during frying.

The step that matters

Fry in hot oil. Oil that is not hot enough lets the fritters soak up grease and turn heavy, while oil that is too hot browns the outside before the centre cooks. Medium-high heat and dropping in spoonfuls keep the oil temperature steady.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Arrowrootfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, 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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