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Saisify Fritters

Fritters made from boiled salsify mixed with eggs, milk, flour, and seasonings, then fried until browned.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Saisify Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. Rub the boiled salsify through a colander or sieve.

  2. In a bowl, combine the salsify, beaten eggs, salt, pepper, milk, and flour.

Fry

  1. Heat a deep pot with smoking hot fat.

  2. Drop small spoonfuls of the mixture into the hot fat.

  3. Cook until well browned, about 3 to 4 minutes.

  4. Adjust the mixture with more flour if it breaks or becomes fat-soaked, or add milk if too tough.

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. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Pepper + milktop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together26,984 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

Milk and flour 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

Salsify
Forms the bulk of the fritter and gives it its main flavour.
Eggs
Bind the mixture together and help it set as it cooks.
All-purpose flour
Thickens the batter and helps the fritters hold their shape.
Milk
Loosens the mixture and adds moisture to keep it tender.

The step that matters

Drop spoonfuls into smoking hot fat. If the fat is not hot enough, the batter absorbs oil instead of searing on the outside, leaving the fritters greasy and likely to fall apart. Hot fat sets the surface quickly so the inside cooks through with a crisp, browned exterior.

“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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