Why it works: Egg and oyster are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,103 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Fritters
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Beat the eggs well in a bowl.
Gradually add the flour and milk, alternating between the two, while beating quickly.
Add the preserved fruit (or chopped oysters/clams, or green corn, or fruit) to the mixture.
Fry and finish
Drop spoonfuls of the batter into boiling hot lard.
Once cooked and drained, sprinkle sugar over the fritters.
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.
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Egg + oystertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,103 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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 add structure as they set when fried.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the starch and gluten that give the batter body and a firm fried structure.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour and adds moisture and richness to the batter.
- Preserved fruit
- Supplies the main flavour and moisture inside each fritter.
The step that matters
Drop spoonfuls of batter into boiling hot lard. Oil that is hot enough sets the outside quickly and browns it, so the fritter does not soak up grease. If the lard is not hot enough, the batter absorbs fat and turns heavy and greasy.
“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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