Why it works: Butter and flour 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 ↓
Fried Bread, or Sippets of Bread for Oarnishino
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the crumb of a stale loaf into slices a quarter-inch thick.
Shape the slices into diamonds or other desired shapes using a paste cutter.
Fry and dry
Fry the shaped bread in fresh butter until pale brown or deeper in color.
Dry the fried bread well.
To adhere the bread to the edge of the dish, brush a little flour and egg white on the side that will touch the dish and let it dry before serving.
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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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
- Stale loaf
- Stale bread has dried crumb that holds its shape and crisps well when fried.
- Fresh butter
- Butter fries the bread, adding fat for richness and browning the surface.
- Egg white
- Egg white acts as a binder that helps the bread stick to the edge of the dish.
- Flour
- Flour adds dryness to the surface so the egg white grips the bread and adheres.
The step that matters
Fry until pale brown or deeper, then dry well. Frying until the surface browns builds crispness and flavor, while drying well removes surface moisture so the bread stays crisp and the egg white and flour bond properly.
“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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