Skip to main content
Dessert

Beignets De Pomhes

Fried apple slices soaked in brandy, lemon juice, and sugar, then glazed with additional sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Apple and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,291 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Beignets De Pomhes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the apples

  1. Peel and core the apples, then cut them into thin slices or quarters.

  2. Soak the apple pieces in brandy, lemon juice, and sugar until flavorful.

Fry and serve

  1. Heat oil in a pan and fry the apples until golden brown.

  2. Remove from oil and glaze with additional sugar. Serve hot.

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. Apple + brandytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,291 recipes

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

  2. Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,551 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together16,478 recipes

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

  4. Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Brandy + sugartop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,939 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 that softens and turns golden when fried, forming the fritter's body.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavor to the apple pieces during soaking.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the apple surface brown and caramelize in the hot oil.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and helps keep the apple pieces fresh-tasting.

The step that matters

Frying the apples until golden brown. Oil that is too cool lets the batter-free apple slices soak up grease and turn soggy, while oil that is too hot browns the outside before the apple softens inside. Steady heat gives even golden color and a tender center.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, brandy, sugar):

  1. Apricotfits better
  2. Pearfits better
  3. Vanillafits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against apple, brandy, sugar. 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.

More apple fritters recipes

Potato 3 See all 377 →

You might also like

Apple PuddingApple Pudding256 recipesLemon CakeLemon Cake228 recipesLemon IceLemon Ice147 recipesLemon SherbetLemon Sherbet103 recipes