Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Golden-ball Fritters
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
In a saucepan, combine water, butter, and sugar, and bring to a boil.
Stir in the sifted flour quickly and thoroughly.
Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Fry and serve
Drop spoonfuls of the dough into boiling lard.
Stir the lard to help the fritters form round shapes.
Serve with syrup or melted sugar and butter.
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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Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,842 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + syruptop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,540 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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 structure of the dough once it is cooked into a paste.
- Eggs
- Bind the dough and add richness and lift to the fritters.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and tenderness in the dough.
The step that matters
Beating in the eggs one at a time. Adding eggs gradually and mixing well after each one lets the dough absorb them evenly. Adding them too fast can break the emulsion, leaving a loose or greasy dough that will not hold its round shape in the hot lard.
“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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