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Fried Frogs

Fried frog legs coated in egg yolk and cracker crumbs, served around green peas.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and peas are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,331 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Fried Frogs

Ingredients

Directions

Coat the frog legs

  1. Dip the frog legs in the egg yolk.

  2. Coat the legs with fine cracker crumbs seasoned with salt and pepper.

Fry and serve

  1. Fry in smoking hot fat for one minute.

  2. Drain and serve in a circle around a center of green peas.

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. Pepper + peastop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,331 recipes

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

  2. Egg + peastop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,065 recipes

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

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

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

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

Frog legs
Provide the tender meat that is the main component of the dish.
Egg yolk
Acts as a binder so the cracker crumbs stick to the legs.
Fine cracker crumbs
Form a crisp, browned coating when fried.

The step that matters

Frying in smoking hot fat. Hot fat sears the crumb coating quickly, forming a crisp crust before the meat overcooks. If the fat is not hot enough, the coating absorbs oil and turns greasy and soft.

Swap the peas

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

  1. Walnutfits about as well
  2. Black-eyed peafits about as well
  3. Peasthe original
  4. Beansfits about as well

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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