Name: Molasses Doughnuts
Ingredients: 2 cups molasses; 2 cups sour milk; 2 eggs; 2 teaspoons baking soda; 4 teaspoons lard; ¼ teaspoon ginger; ¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Why it works: Ginger and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,380 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Molasses Doughnuts

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

In a large bowl, mix molasses and sour milk.
Beat in the eggs until well combined.
Add baking soda, lard, ginger, and cinnamon; mix until smooth.

Fry and serve

Drop spoonfuls of the batter into hot oil and fry until golden brown.
Remove and drain on paper towels before serving.

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.

Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,380 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,655 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Molasses + cinnamontop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,928 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,116 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Molasses: Adds sweetness, dark color and a deep flavor to the dough.
Sour milk: Its acidity reacts with the baking soda so the doughnuts rise and turn tender.
Eggs: Bind the batter and add structure and richness to the doughnuts.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acid in the sour milk and molasses to produce gas for rising.
Lard: Adds fat, which gives the doughnuts a tender crumb and richer flavor.

The step that matters

Frying the batter in hot oil. If the oil is not hot enough, the doughnuts absorb excess oil and turn greasy and heavy. If it is too hot, the outside browns before the centre cooks through. Steady oil temperature gives an evenly cooked, light doughnut.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, milk, egg, cinnamon):

Nutmegfits better
Clovefits better
Allspicefits about as well
Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, milk, egg, cinnamon. 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.

Ginger Cookies213 recipes

Molasses Cookies96 recipes

Ginger Cake93 recipes

Molasses Cake90 recipes

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Molasses Doughnuts