Why it works: Milk and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,685 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
Doughnuts
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
In a bowl, mix sugar, sour milk, baking soda, baking powder, eggs, salt, and nutmeg until smooth.
Fry and drain
Heat lard in a deep pan until hot.
Drop spoonfuls of the dough into the hot lard and fry until golden brown.
Remove and drain on paper towels.
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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Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,685 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Egg + nutmegtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together24,744 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + nutmegtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together23,364 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Egg and nutmeg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 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
- Sour milk
- Reacts with the baking soda to lift the dough and adds tangy flavour.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk to produce gas that makes the doughnuts rise.
- Baking powder
- Provides additional lift so the dough puffs while frying.
- Eggs
- Bind the dough and add structure and richness.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the exterior brown during frying.
The step that matters
Frying the dough in hot lard. If the lard is not hot enough, the dough absorbs excess fat and turns greasy and dense instead of browning quickly. Too much heat can brown the outside before the centre cooks through.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, milk, egg):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegthe original
- Gingerfits less well
- Allspicefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, 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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