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 ↓
Oley Cooks
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the dough
At noon, set yeast to rise sufficient to make when risen half a pint.
At five or six o'clock, warm three-fourths of a pint of milk, half a pound of sugar, a fourth of a pound of butter, add one and a half pounds of flour, half a nutmeg grated, and lastly three eggs, well-beaten.
Must not be kneaded, only mixed and beaten with a spoon; set in a warm place to rise.
If very light at bedtime, push down with a floured hand.
Shape and rise
At nine next day, make small, round balls in your hand, placing a raisin in the center of each, and put to rise again in a warm place.
Cook and serve
About two or three o'clock they will be ready to boil in very hot lard.
Remove them carefully from the breadboard with a floured knife, giving them a gentle roll to shape them; cook quickly.
Roll in powdered sugar; elegant.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Lard | 1 tbsp (12.8g) | 115 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Nutmeg | 1 tsp ground (2.2g) | 12 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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. See the original page.
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).
-
Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour and butter 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
- Forms the gluten network that gives the dough its structure and chew.
- Eggs
- Add richness, structure and moisture to the dough.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and a richer crumb.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the dough brown when cooked.
- Milk
- Provides moisture and helps soften the dough's texture.
The step that matters
Cook quickly in very hot lard. Dough balls dropped into lard that is not very hot absorb more fat and turn heavy and greasy. Hot fat sets the outside quickly, so the balls stay light inside.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, milk, sugar, butter, egg):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegthe original
- Jalapenofits less well
- Capersfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, milk, sugar, butter, egg. 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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