Why it works: Cinnamon and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Crullers—1
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
Beat the eggs with sugar and cinnamon.
Add the melted lard and enough flour to roll out to ½ inch thick.
Cut into desired shapes.
Fry and finish
Drop carefully into hot lard, turning when ready.
Once cooked, lay on brown paper to drain.
When dry, dust with powdered sugar.
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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Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Cinnamon + eggtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,058 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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.
- Melted lard
- Adds fat for tenderness and richness, and is the medium for frying.
- Flour (in the method)
- Forms the dough structure that holds the shape during frying.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the surface brown during frying.
The step that matters
Drop carefully into hot lard, turning when ready.. If the lard is not hot enough, the crullers absorb excess fat and turn greasy; if it is too hot, the outside browns before the inside cooks. Adding them gently prevents splashing and uneven shape.
“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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