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Meat Fritters

A batter of flour, salt, oil, water, eggs, and whipped egg whites coats cold meat slices, then fried in clarified dripping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Meat Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. In a bowl, combine 6 ounces of flour and ½ teaspoon of coarse sea salt.

  2. Add 2 teaspoons of salad oil and mix into a smooth paste.

  3. Gradually stir in ½ pint of tepid water until there are no lumps.

  4. Separate the eggs; place the whites in a bowl and the yolks aside.

  5. Sprinkle a pinch of salt over the egg whites and whip to stiff peaks.

  6. Gently fold the whipped egg whites into the batter.

  7. Let the batter sit for 1 hour to rise, but no longer than 2 hours.

Fry and serve

  1. Heat ½ pound of clarified dripping in a saucepan until hot.

  2. Slice the cold meat into thin pieces.

  3. Once the batter has risen, stir it gently to ensure no lumps.

  4. Dip the meat slices into the batter and fry in the hot dripping until golden.

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. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Butter + meattop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,594 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Egg + meattop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,432 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Flour and butter 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 main structure of the batter once mixed with water.
Eggs
Whipped whites add air and lightness, helping the fritters rise and stay tender.
Salad oil
Adds fat to the batter, contributing tenderness and a softer crumb.
Clarified dripping
Hot fat transfers heat quickly, browning the batter to a golden crust.

The step that matters

Folding in the whipped egg whites. Egg whites hold air only while intact, so folding gently preserves the foam that lifts the batter. Stirring vigorously deflates it, leaving dense fritters.

“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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