Why it works: Buttermilk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,721 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Doughnuts, or Nut-cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
In a bowl, mix buttermilk, cream, eggs, baking soda, and cinnamon.
Add flour gradually until the dough is workable.
Roll out the dough and cut it into strips, twisting them into shapes.
Fry
Heat lard in an iron pot until boiling hot.
Test the lard; if it's not hot enough, the doughnuts will absorb it.
If too hot, they will brown too quickly outside while remaining raw inside.
If using an open fire, keep the pot moving to maintain even heat.
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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Buttermilk + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,721 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Buttermilk + creamtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together674 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Buttermilk + cinnamontop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together769 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Buttermilk
- Adds moisture and acidity that works with the baking soda to lift the dough.
- Cream
- Adds fat and richness, softening the crumb and adding tenderness.
- Eggs
- Bind the dough and add structure as they set during frying.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the buttermilk's acidity to produce gas that helps the doughnuts rise.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that turns the mixture into a workable, shapeable dough.
The step that matters
Heat the lard to the right temperature. If the lard is too cool, the dough soaks up grease instead of searing. If it is too hot, the outside browns before the inside cooks through. Testing the lard first keeps the frying even.
Swap the cinnamon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (buttermilk, cream, egg, flour):
- Nutmegfits better
- Jalapenofits better
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Cinnamonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against buttermilk, cream, 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.
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