Why it works: Flour and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Salsifis Frits
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a bowl, combine flour and salt.
Make a well in the center and add egg yolk, salad oil, and brandy.
Stir while gradually adding water until you achieve a consistency similar to melted butter.
If preparing in advance, refrigerate the batter and add the beaten egg white just before use.
Fry
Drain the salsifis and coat them in the batter.
Fry the salsifis as you would potatoes until they swell and become golden.
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.
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + brandytop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,340 recipes
Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).
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Flour + brandytop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,181 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and egg 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
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the batter that coats the salsify.
- Egg yolk
- Adds richness and helps the batter bind and brown when fried.
- Egg white
- Beaten and added just before use to lighten the batter so it puffs when fried.
The step that matters
Adding the beaten egg white. Beaten egg white traps air that expands in hot oil, so the coating puffs and becomes light. If it is added too early or left to deflate, the batter turns dense and heavy. Adding it just before frying keeps the coating airy.
“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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