Name: Beignets
Ingredients: 2 cups all-purpose flour; 2 teaspoons baking powder; ¼ teaspoon salt; 2 tablespoons sugar; 2 eggs; 1 cup milk; Oil for frying

Why it works: Flour and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Beignets

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the batter

In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar.
In another bowl, beat the eggs and add milk.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients until smooth.

Fry and drain

Heat oil in a deep pan to 350°F (175°C).
Drop spoonfuls of batter into the hot oil.
Fry until golden brown, then drain on paper towels.

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.

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.

Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together88,785 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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

All-purpose flour: Provides the structure that holds the batter together as it fries.
Baking powder: Releases gas during frying, helping the beignets puff and rise.
Eggs: Add structure and richness, helping the batter bind and set.
Milk: Adds moisture, loosening the batter to a smooth, pourable consistency.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the surface brown evenly as it fries.

The step that matters

Heating the oil to 350°F (175°C). If the oil is too cool, the batter absorbs it and turns greasy and heavy; if it is too hot, the outside browns before the inside cooks. Holding the oil near 350°F lets the dough puff and cook through with a golden crust.

“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.