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 ↓
Hominy Fritters
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a bowl, combine cooked hominy, milk, eggs, salt, and baking powder.
Add enough flour to create a stiff batter.
Fry
Heat lard in a deep pan.
Drop spoonfuls of the batter into the hot lard and fry until golden brown.
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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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as they set when fried.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the fritters rise and turn light.
- Flour
- Gives the batter body so it holds its shape in the hot lard.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and loosens the batter with the hominy.
- Cooked hominy
- Forms the main body of the fritters and adds texture.
The step that matters
Drop the batter into hot lard. If the lard is not hot enough, the fritters absorb excess fat and turn greasy instead of crisping and browning. A stiff batter also needs to be dropped in by spoonfuls so each one holds its shape while frying.
“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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