Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Golden-ball Fritters
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
Combine 1 pint of water, 2 tablespoons of butter, and 1 tablespoon of sugar in a saucepan.
Bring the mixture to a boil.
Stir in 1 pint of sifted flour, mixing briskly until well combined.
Remove the mixture from heat and let it cool slightly.
Beat in 6 eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Fry and serve
Drop spoonfuls of the dough into boiling lard.
Fry the fritters until golden brown.
Serve with syrup or melted sugar and butter.
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.
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Eggs
- Bind the dough and give the fritters structure and a light, puffy interior as they cook.
- Flour
- Forms the starch and gluten structure that holds the fritters together as they set.
- Butter
- Adds richness and tenderness to the dough and a rich flavour to the finished fritters.
- Water
- Hydrates the flour and turns steam during frying, helping the fritters puff.
The step that matters
Beating in the eggs. Add eggs gradually to the cooled mixture, one at a time, so they emulsify evenly. Adding them to a hot mixture can scramble them, and too much liquid at once can make the dough too loose to hold its shape in the hot lard.
“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.
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.