Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Oyster Fritters
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Drain the oysters and chop them coarsely.
In a bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, salt, and cayenne pepper.
In another bowl, beat the egg and add the milk and melted butter.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients, then fold in the oysters.
Fry
Heat oil in a pan and drop spoonfuls of the batter into the hot oil.
Fry until golden brown on both sides, then drain on paper towels.
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.
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,184 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Oyster + eggtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,103 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Oysters
- Provide the main flavour and savoury bite inside the batter.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and helps set the fritters as they cook.
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the batter once it is cooked.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas that lightens the batter and helps the fritters rise.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and loosens the batter to a drop-able consistency.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat for richness and helps the surface brown.
The step that matters
Frying the batter spoonfuls. The oil must be hot enough for the batter to set and brown quickly. If the oil is too cool, the fritters absorb excess oil and turn greasy and heavy instead of crisp and golden.
“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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