Name: Icelandic Donuts
Ingredients: 3 eggs; 1 cup sour cream; 1 cup milk or buttermilk; 2 tsp. soda; 1 tsp. salt; 1 tsp. Cream of Tartar; 1 1/2 cups sugar; 1 tsp. vanilla; 1 tsp. nutmeg; Enough flour to roll (approx. 4 cups)

Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

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.

Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,187 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together35,032 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Vanilla + nutmegtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,781 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Eggs: Bind the dough and add richness and structure to the crumb.
Sour cream: Adds moisture and tenderness and reacts with the soda to help the donuts rise.
Soda: Reacts with the acidic sour cream to release gas, lifting the dough as it fries.
Cream of tartar: Adds acidity that works with the soda to help leavening and a tender texture.
Sugar: Sweetens the dough and helps it brown in the hot fat.
Flour: Forms the structure of the dough so it can be rolled and shaped.

The step that matters

Keep turning the donuts in the fat until golden brown. Frying at the stated heat sets the outside quickly and browns it, while the inside cooks through. Turning them evenly keeps the browning uniform and prevents one side from over-darkening or the centre staying doughy.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, cream, milk, sugar, vanilla, flour):

Cinnamonfits better
Nutmegthe original
Peppermintfits less well
Turmericfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, cream, milk, sugar, vanilla, flour. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Vanilla	1 tsp extract (4ml)	12
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Icelandic Donuts