Why it works: Corn and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,324 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Corn Fritters
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Scrape the corn from the ears.
Mix the corn with the bread crumbs, pepper, salt, and sugar.
Fry the fritters
Drop 1 tablespoon of the mixture into hot lard.
Fry until golden brown, turning like griddle cakes.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,324 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,964 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Corn + breadtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together547 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Corn + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,168 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Bread + sugartop 32% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,638 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Corn
- Provides the main body, sweetness and moisture of the fritters.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb moisture from the corn and help the mixture hold together while frying.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the surface brown during frying.
- Lard
- Conducts heat to cook the fritters and gives a golden, crisp surface.
The step that matters
Drop the mixture into hot lard. Hot fat sets the outside of each fritter quickly, so it browns and crisps instead of soaking up grease. Lard that is not hot enough makes the fritters greasy and pale.
“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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