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Dessert

Our Molasses Doughnuts

A sweet doughnut made with molasses, baking soda, egg, lard, sour milk, ginger, and flour, then fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Molasses and ginger are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,116 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Our Molasses Doughnuts

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dough

  1. In a bowl, combine 1 cup of molasses and 1 teaspoon of baking soda.

  2. Add 1 egg, 2 tablespoons of melted lard, and 1 cup of sour milk.

  3. Mix in ginger to taste and gradually add flour until a dough forms.

Shape and fry

  1. Shape the dough into doughnuts and fry until golden brown.

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.

  1. Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Ginger + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,564 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Molasses + flourtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,429 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Milk and flour 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

Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color and a rich flavor to the dough.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic sour milk and molasses to produce gas that lightens the dough.
Egg
Binds the dough and adds structure as it sets.
Melted lard
Adds fat that tenderizes the dough and helps it brown.
Sour milk
Provides acidity for the baking soda reaction and moisture for the dough.
Flour
Forms the main structure of the dough once it is hydrated.

The step that matters

Fry until golden brown. Frying at a steady temperature cooks the dough through while browning the outside. Oil that is too cool soaks in grease, and oil that is too hot browns the outside before the centre sets.

Swap the ginger

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Jalapenofits better
  4. Gingerthe original

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