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Jolly Boys

A fried batter cake made from rye meal, wheat flour, molasses, eggs, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Jolly Boys

Why it works: Rye and wheat match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 404 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Jolly Boys

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. In a bowl, mix together the rye meal, wheat flour, Indian meal (or cream of tartar), salt, cinnamon, and baking powder.

  2. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and add them to the dry mixture.

  3. Stir in the molasses and enough cold water to create a very stiff batter.

  4. If using baking soda, dissolve it in a few spoonfuls of boiling water and mix it into the batter.

Fry and serve

  1. Heat lard in a pot to a depth of 3 inches until boiling.

  2. Drop spoonfuls of the batter into the hot lard.

  3. Fry until golden brown, then remove with a skimmer and place on brown paper to drain.

  4. Serve very hot with hard or sweet sauce.

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.

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.

  1. Rye + wheattop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together404 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Wheat + cinnamontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together537 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  3. Rye + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,320 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Rye + cinnamontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together85 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Rye meal
Forms the main body of the cake and gives it its characteristic earthy flavor.
Eggs
Bind the dry ingredients and add structure and richness to the batter.
Baking powder
Releases gas during cooking, helping the cakes rise and turn light.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color, and moisture, and supports browning during frying.
Wheat flour
Adds gluten-based structure that holds the stiff batter together.

The step that matters

Keep the batter very stiff and the lard fully boiling. A stiff batter holds its shape when dropped, so the cakes do not spread or absorb excess fat. Boiling lard seals the outside quickly, producing a crisp exterior and less greasy cake.

Swap the cinnamon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rye, molasses, wheat, flour, egg, cream):

  1. Nutmegfits about as well
  2. Cinnamonthe original
  3. Turmericfits less well
  4. Capersfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against rye, molasses, wheat, flour, egg, cream. 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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