Why it works: Egg and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Fried Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
Mix sugar, eggs, shortening, baking soda, and sour milk until well combined.
Cut the mixture into rings.
Fry and finish
Heat lard in a deep pan until very hot.
Add a peeled potato to prevent burning.
Drop the cake rings into the hot lard.
Fry until dark brown.
Remove and sprinkle with 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.
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.
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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 batter and add structure and richness to the cakes.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the sour milk to produce gas, helping the cakes rise.
- Sour milk
- Adds moisture and acidity that activates the baking soda.
- Shortening
- Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and carries flavour.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cakes and helps them brown when fried.
The step that matters
Keep the lard very hot. If the lard is not hot enough, the rings absorb oil and turn greasy instead of crisping. Frying in properly hot fat seals the surface quickly, so the cakes brown and stay light inside.
“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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