Why it works: Cinnamon and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,536 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Soda Doughnuts
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the dough
Heat lard in a frying kettle on the back of the stove.
In a large bowl, mix flour, salt, baking soda, brown sugar, cinnamon, mace, and allspice.
If using, cream the butter and drop it into the center of the flour mixture.
Pour the sour milk into the center of the flour mixture, mixing briskly with a chopping knife to form a dough.
Fry and serve
Roll out the dough and fry in the hot lard.
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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Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,536 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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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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Mace + allspicetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,189 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cinnamon + macetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the structure that holds the dough together after mixing.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the sour milk to produce gas, leavening the doughnuts.
- Sour milk or buttermilk
- Its acidity activates the baking soda and adds tenderness and tang to the dough.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the doughnuts brown during frying.
The step that matters
Pour the sour milk and mix briskly. Mixing briskly with a chopping knife until just combined keeps the dough tender. Overworking develops gluten, which makes doughnuts tough, and the baking soda must react with the acidic milk while the dough is being formed.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, cinnamon, allspice, milk, butter):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Clovefits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, cinnamon, allspice, milk, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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