Why it works: Milk and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,466 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓
Fried Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Beat the egg, salt, and cold water or milk together until well combined.
Dip the slices of bread into the mixture.
Fry and serve
Fry the dipped bread slices in hot oil until golden 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.
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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Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 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
- Egg
- Binds the batter and helps the bread set and hold a coating when fried.
- Cold water or milk
- Thins the egg into a dipping liquid that moistens the bread and helps it brown.
- Bread
- Soaks up the egg mixture and becomes crisp and golden in the hot oil.
The step that matters
Frying in hot oil. If the oil is not hot enough, the dipped bread soaks up oil and turns greasy instead of crisping. Hot oil sets the egg coating quickly and browns the surface.
“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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