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Beignets De Panais

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,015 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Beignets De Panais

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Boil the parsnips until tender, then cut them into long, narrow strips.

  2. Prepare the batter by mixing flour, egg yolks, salt, pepper, nutmeg, salad oil, and water until smooth.

  3. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks and fold them into the batter.

  4. Dip the parsnip strips into the batter.

  5. Heat deep lard until boiling, then drop in the battered parsnips a few at a time.

  6. Fry until puffed and golden-brown, then remove with a skimmer and drain on brown paper.

  7. Serve in a pyramid on cut paper or a folded napkin.

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. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Egg + nutmegtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together24,744 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 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

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, egg, pepper):

  1. Turmericfits about as well
  2. Parsleyfits about as well
  3. Nutmegthe original
  4. Jalapenofits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, egg, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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