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 ↓
Doughnuts
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
Cream the butter and sugar together until smooth.
Add the eggs and mix well.
Stir in the milk, baking powder, and nutmeg.
Gradually add the flour until a soft dough forms.
Roll out the dough on a floured surface and cut into doughnut shapes.
Fry and drain
Heat oil in a kettle until hot.
Fry the doughnuts 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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the dough so it holds its shape when cut and fried.
- Eggs
- Add richness and help bind the dough together.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas that makes the dough rise and turn light and airy.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and flavor in the dough.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the doughnuts brown when fried.
- Milk
- Adds moisture that hydrates the flour and softens the dough.
The step that matters
Fry the doughnuts until golden brown. Oil that is not hot enough lets doughnuts soak up grease and turn heavy, while oil that is too hot browns the outside before the inside cooks through. Frying at a steady temperature gives a light, fully cooked interior.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, milk, flour):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegthe original
- Jalapenofits less well
- Capersfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, milk, flour. 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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