Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Crullers
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
In a bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, and butter together until well combined.
Add the sour milk, baking powder, and spices, mixing thoroughly.
Gradually add flour until the dough is stiff enough to handle.
Roll out the dough to ¼ inch thick and cut into rings.
Fry
Heat the lard in an iron kettle until hot but not smoking.
Fry the crullers in the hot lard 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.
-
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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 dough and add richness and structure as they set in the frying fat.
- Sour milk
- Reacts with the baking powder to lighten the dough and adds a slight tang.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during frying, giving the crullers a light, airy crumb.
- Butter
- Adds fat that tenderizes the dough and contributes to a softer texture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the crullers brown richly in the hot fat.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the dough together once stiffened.
The step that matters
Heating the lard. The lard must be hot but not smoking. If it is too cool, the dough absorbs excess fat and turns greasy; if it smokes, the outside scorches before the inside cooks through.
“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.
More crullers recipes
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.