Why it works: Egg and flour 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 ↓
Swedish Noodles
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
Beat the egg with a pinch of salt until frothy.
Work in as much sifted flour as it will absorb to form a firm, smooth, elastic paste.
Knead the paste until smooth, then roll it out on a floured board until very thin.
Slip a floured cloth under the paste and cover it to roll it even thinner.
Cut the paste into rounds using a thimble, folding it to cut two discs at a time.
Fry and serve
Heat deep lard in a saucepan until boiling.
Drop the discs into the boiling lard; they will swell into golden balls in about a minute.
Skim them out and drain on brown paper before adding to soup.
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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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Egg and flour 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
- Egg
- Binds the flour into a firm, elastic paste and adds richness to the dough.
- Sifted flour
- Forms the structure of the paste, which puffs into hollow balls when fried.
- Lard
- Fries the discs quickly, making them swell and turn golden and crisp.
The step that matters
Drop the discs into the boiling lard. The lard must be fully boiling so the discs seal and puff quickly. If it is too cool, the dough soaks up fat and turns greasy and dense instead of swelling into light, golden balls.
“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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