Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
25 Crullers
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
Cut the butter into the flour.
Add the sugar and spices, mixing well.
Beat the eggs.
Pour the eggs into the flour mixture, adding the rose-water.
Mix everything into a dough.
Add a little cold water if needed.
Knead the dough on a floured surface until smooth.
Cut the dough into small pieces.
Knead each piece separately.
Combine all pieces and knead into one lump.
Shape and fry
Roll out to a ½ inch thick square.
Cut the dough into long narrow strips.
Twist them into various shapes.
Heat melted lard in a pan.
Fry the crullers until light brown, turning gently with a knife and fork.
Place the fried crullers on a dish to cool.
Sprinkle with grated loaf sugar.
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.
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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Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Butter
- Rubbed into the flour, it adds richness and a tender, crumbly texture to the dough.
- Eggs
- Bind the dough and add structure and richness to the crullers.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the dough once bound with eggs and butter.
- Powdered white sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the crullers brown lightly when fried.
The step that matters
Fry the crullers until light brown. Lard must be hot enough to cook the dough through and brown it quickly. If the fat is too cool, the crullers absorb grease and turn heavy; if too hot, the outside darkens before the inside is cooked.
“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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