Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Extra Crullers
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a large bowl, beat the eggs until well combined.
Add the sugar and sour cream, mixing until smooth.
Stir in the baking soda and salt.
Add your choice of flavoring to taste.
Fry
Fry spoonfuls of the batter in hot oil until golden brown.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add richness and structure as they set in the hot oil.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the fried exterior brown.
- Sour cream
- Adds moisture, fat and tang, giving the batter a tender crumb.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the sour cream's acidity to produce gas that lightens the batter.
The step that matters
Fry spoonfuls of the batter in hot oil until golden brown.. Oil that is too cool lets the batter soak up grease and turn heavy, while oil that is too hot browns the outside before the centre cooks through. Frying until golden brown indicates the interior has set.
“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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