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Jolly Boys

A fried dough made with sour milk, rye meal, Indian meal, molasses, egg, and lard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Jolly Boys

Why it works: Milk and rye work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 918 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Jolly Boys

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Dissolve the baking soda in a little sour milk with a pinch of salt.

  2. Mix the rye meal with the sour milk until it reaches a thin batter consistency.

  3. Add Indian meal until the batter becomes stiff.

  4. Stir in the beaten egg and molasses.

Fry

  1. Drop about half a tablespoon of batter into a kettle of boiling drippings or lard.

  2. Fry until golden brown, flipping when they pop over themselves.

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.

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.

  1. Milk + ryetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together918 recipes

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

  2. Molasses + ryetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together804 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

  4. Milk + molassestop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,243 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. Egg + ryetop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together484 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Sour milk
Its acidity reacts with the baking soda to make the batter rise and turn tender.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acid in the sour milk to release gas, lightening the dough.
Egg
Binds the batter and adds richness and structure as it sets in the fry.
Molasses
Adds sweetness and a deeper flavor, and helps the fried crust brown.
Rye meal
Provides the main flavor and body of the batter, giving a dense, hearty texture.
Indian meal
Thickens the batter so the drops hold their shape in the hot fat.

The step that matters

Frying the drops in hot fat. If the fat is not hot enough, the batter absorbs grease instead of setting quickly, leaving heavy, greasy dough. A steady, hot fat seals the outside so the inside cooks through while the crust browns.

“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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