Name: Corn Fritters
Ingredients: 1 quart grated corn; 2 eggs; 2 tablespoons flour; 2 tablespoons butter; 1 teacup milk; butter and lard for frying

Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Corn Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

In a bowl, combine grated corn, eggs, flour, butter, and milk, and mix until well combined.

Fry

Heat a mixture of butter and lard in a frying pan over medium‑high heat.
Drop spoonfuls of the mixture into the hot fat.
Fry until golden brown on both sides.

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.

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 + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Corn + milktop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,955 recipes

Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Corn + flourtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,165 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Corn + buttertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,345 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

Flour and butter 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 batter and help the fritters hold their shape while frying.
Flour: Gives the batter body so the fritters hold together rather than spreading.
Grated corn: Provides the main bulk, sweetness and moisture of the fritters.
Milk: Loosens the batter to a spoonable consistency and adds richness.
Butter: Adds richness and flavour to the batter and to the frying fat.

The step that matters

Frying the spoonfuls in hot fat. If the fat is not hot enough, the batter absorbs oil and turns greasy, and if it is too hot the outside browns before the centre sets. Medium‑high heat and steady frying give an even golden crust with a cooked interior.

“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.