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 ↓
Quick Doughnuts
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
Set the water (milk) to boil with butter and salt; when it starts boiling, remove from heat, add the flour and at the same time, start stirring with a spoon.
Return to slow heat and keep stirring until the mixture starts to come off the sides of the pan.
Let cool, add lemon juice and 4 eggs previously mixed with sugar. Mix everything well.
Fry and finish
With a well greased teaspoon, take spoonfuls of the mixture and drop into hot oil to fry.
Fry until golden-brown and then sprinkle with vanilla flavored confectioner's sugar.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 8 of 9 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 8 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Olive Oil | 1 tbsp (14g) | 119 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Lemon | juice of 1 lemon (48ml) | 12 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.
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).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Butter and flour 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
- Flour
- Starch that gelatinises with the hot water and sets into the dough's structure.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, binding the dough and helping it puff in the hot oil.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and richness in the dough.
- Water (milk)
- Hydrates the flour and creates steam that helps the doughnuts puff.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the fried exterior brown.
The step that matters
Let the dough come off the sides before cooling. Cooking the flour paste until it pulls away from the pan drives off excess moisture and gelatinises the starch. If it stays wet, the dough will be too soft to hold shape and may absorb excess oil while frying.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, milk, butter, flour, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, butter, flour, sugar. 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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