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Jolly Boys

A fried batter made with sour milk, rye meal, Indian meal, molasses, and baking soda.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Jolly Boys

Why it works: Milk and rye work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 918 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Jolly Boys

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Dissolve baking soda in a little sour milk with salt.

  2. Mix rye meal with sour milk to form a thin batter. Add Indian meal until the batter is stiff.

  3. Stir in the beaten egg.

Fry

  1. Drop spoonfuls of batter into boiling drippings or lard.

  2. Fry until golden brown, flipping when they pop over themselves.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Milk + ryetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together918 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  2. Molasses + ryetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together804 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Milk + molassestop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,243 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. Egg + ryetop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together484 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Sour milk
Its acidity reacts with baking soda to give the batter lift.
Baking soda
Reacts with the sour milk to release gas, helping the fritters rise and lighten.
Egg
Binds the batter and adds structure as it sets in the hot fat.
Rye meal
Forms the base of the batter and contributes its own earthy flavor.
Indian meal
Stiffens the batter so the spoonfuls hold their shape when fried.

The step that matters

Fry until golden brown, flipping when they pop over themselves. The fat must be hot enough to set the outside quickly; if it is too cool, the batter absorbs oil and turns greasy and heavy instead of crisp and browned.

“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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