Why it works: Pork and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 22,121 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Pork Fritters
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Prepare a thick batter using Indian meal and flour.
Cut a few slices of pork and fry them in a frying pan until the fat is rendered.
Fry the fritters
Cut additional slices of pork, dip them in the batter, and drop them into the hot fat.
Season with salt and pepper, and cook until light brown.
Serve hot.
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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Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,121 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + porktop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,187 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and pork barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,187 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
- Indian meal
- Forms the thick batter that coats the pork and crisps when fried.
- Flour
- Adds structure to the batter so it clings to the pork while frying.
- Slices of pork
- Provide the main filling and release fat that the fritters are fried in.
The step that matters
Drop the battered pork into hot fat. If the fat is not hot enough, the batter absorbs oil and turns greasy instead of crisping quickly. Hot fat sets the coating fast, so the pork cooks through without the batter soaking up excess fat.
“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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