Why it works: Nutmeg and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,623 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Crullers
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
In a bowl, combine sour cream, buttermilk, sugar, eggs, Royal Baking Powder, and nutmeg.
Gradually add flour until the mixture forms a stiff dough.
Roll out the dough and cut into desired shapes.
Fry and serve
Fry in hot oil until golden brown.
Drain on paper towels and serve.
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.
-
Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Buttermilk + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,721 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Buttermilk + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,973 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Cream + buttermilktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together674 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sour cream
- Adds fat and tang, keeping the dough tender and moist.
- Buttermilk
- Adds acidity that reacts with the baking powder to lighten the dough.
- Eggs
- Bind the dough and add richness and structure.
- Royal baking powder
- Releases gas during mixing and frying, helping the cruller rise and stay light.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that turns the mixture into a stiff, shapeable dough.
The step that matters
Fry in hot oil until golden brown. If the oil is not hot enough, the dough absorbs oil and turns greasy and heavy. If it is too hot, the outside browns before the inside cooks through. Steady heat gives a light, evenly cooked cruller.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, buttermilk, sugar, egg, flour):
- Nutmegthe original
- Jalapenofits about as well
- Cinnamonfits less well
- Tarragonfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, buttermilk, sugar, egg, 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.
More crullers recipes
You might also like
Buttermilk Pie12 recipes
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 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.