Name: Apple Fritters I
Ingredients: 2 medium-sized apples; batter (prepared separately); powdered sugar for serving; deep fat for frying

Why it works: Apple and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,478 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Apple Fritters I

Ingredients

2 medium-sized apples
batter (prepared separately)
powdered sugar for serving
deep fat for frying

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 365°F (185°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the apples

Wipe, quarter, core, and peel the apples, then cut them into small pieces.
Stir the apple pieces into the batter.

Fry

Heat deep fat to 365°F (185°C).
Drop spoonfuls of the mixture into the hot fat.
Fry until golden brown, then drain on unglazed paper.

Serve

Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.

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.

Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together16,478 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Apple and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 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

Apples: Provide the fruit pieces and moisture that stay tender inside the crisp fried batter.
Batter: Forms the coating that puffs and browns in the hot fat, holding the apple pieces together.

The step that matters

Frying at the right temperature. Fat held near 365°F browns the outside quickly while the batter sets and the apple heats through. If the fat is too cool, fritters absorb oil and turn greasy; if too hot, the outside darkens before the inside cooks.

“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.