Why it works: Sugar and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Crullers or Wonders
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
Combine three eggs, three tablespoonfuls of melted lard or butter, and three tablespoonfuls of sugar.
Mix very hard with sifted flour until the dough is as hard as can be rolled, then roll it very thin like pie crust.
Shape
Cut the dough into squares three inches long and two inches wide.
Cut several slits or lines lengthwise to within a quarter of an inch of the edges of the ends.
Run your two forefingers through every other slit.
Lay the squares down on the board edgewise and dent them.
Fry
Fry in hot lard until light brown.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Lard | 1 tbsp (12.8g) | 115 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
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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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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 as it sets in the fryer.
- Lard
- Fat that fries the dough, giving a crisp, golden-brown surface.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the surface brown during frying.
- Sifted flour (in the method)
- Forms the gluten network that makes the dough firm enough to roll thin.
The step that matters
Mix the dough very hard. Thorough kneading builds gluten so the dough rolls very thin and holds its slits without tearing. Under-mixed dough stays soft and may pull apart or absorb too much fat when fried.
“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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