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Macaroni and Onion Fritters

A fried fritter made from macaroni, onions, breadcrumbs, eggs, salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Macaroni and Onion Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cook the macaroni in boiling water until tender, then drain and cut into small pieces.

  2. Boil and chop the onions, then add them to the macaroni.

Make the mixture

  1. Moisten the breadcrumbs with a little water and mix them with the macaroni and onions.

  2. Beat the eggs well and add them to the mixture, seasoning with salt and pepper.

Fry and serve

  1. Shape the mixture into fritters and fry them until golden brown.

  2. Serve with brown sauce.

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. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Egg + peppertop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together50,580 recipes

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

  3. Onion + eggtop 34% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together23,333 recipes

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

Egg and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 50,580 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

Macaroni
Forms the bulk of the fritters and gives them a soft, tender body.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb moisture and help the fritters hold their shape while frying.
Eggs
Bind the mixture together so it holds its shape when fried.
Onions
Add savoury flavour and moisture to the mixture.

The step that matters

Beat the eggs well and add them to the mixture. Well-beaten eggs spread evenly through the mixture, so they bind it consistently. Unevenly mixed egg can leave loose, crumbly fritters that break apart during frying.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Spinachfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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