Why it works: Nutmeg and coconut match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 411 recipes. Both carry beta-pinene, which smells pine, resin. The science ↓
Fried Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
In a bowl, mix sugar, eggs, sour cream, buttermilk, baking soda, and nutmeg.
Add flour gradually until a soft dough forms.
Roll the dough to ½ inch thick and cut into rounds, removing a small ring from the center.
Fry and serve
Heat coconut butter in a deep pan until hot enough to fry.
Fry the cakes until nicely browned, then drain on paper towels.
Dust with confectioner's sugar before serving.
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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Nutmeg + coconuttop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together411 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-pinene (pine, resin).
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Buttermilk + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,721 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Sugar + buttermilktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,973 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Bind the dough and add richness and structure to the cakes.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour cream and buttermilk to lift the dough and help it rise.
- Sour cream
- Adds acidity and moisture, tenderizing the dough and helping the baking soda react.
- Buttermilk
- Adds acidity and moisture, tenderizing the dough and helping the baking soda react.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the cakes brown when fried.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the soft dough together.
The step that matters
Fry the cakes until nicely browned. The coconut butter must be hot enough before frying, or the cakes will absorb excess fat and turn greasy instead of crisping and browning on the outside while cooking through.
Swap the coconut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, cream, buttermilk, nutmeg, flour, butter):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonfits about as well
- Coconutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, cream, buttermilk, nutmeg, flour, 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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