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Squash Fritters

Squash fritters are fried batter made from mashed squash, eggs, milk, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

Squash Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. Cook the squashes until tender, then mash and drain them well.

  2. Season the mashed squashes with pepper and salt.

  3. Add milk or cream, the yolks of the eggs, and enough flour to make a stiff batter.

  4. Gently fold in the well-beaten egg whites.

Fry and serve

  1. Heat lard in a skillet until hot, then drop spoonfuls of the batter into the skillet.

  2. Fry until golden brown and serve immediately.

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. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Pepper + milktop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together26,984 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

Squashes
Form the bulk of the fritter, giving a soft, moist interior.
Eggs
Yolks bind the batter, and whipped whites lighten it for a tender texture.
Flour
Thickens the squash mixture into a stiff batter that holds its shape in the fat.
Milk or cream
Adds moisture and richness to the batter.
Lard
Fries the fritters, browning their surface and crisping the outside.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Whites hold air that lightens the batter. Stirring or mixing them in vigorously deflates that air, leaving dense fritters, so fold gently and keep the batter from being overworked.

“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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