Why it works: Flour and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,623 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Soft Crullers
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
Sift the flour and powdered sugar together.
Heat the water in a saucepan until warm.
Gradually mix the flour into the water.
Melt the butter in a small vessel over low heat.
Stir the melted butter into the flour and water mixture.
Add the powdered sugar and grated nutmeg gradually, and mix well.
Remove the saucepan from heat.
Beat the mixture with a wooden spoon until thoroughly combined.
Beat the eggs lightly.
Stir the eggs into the mixture until well incorporated.
Shape
Flour a surface, then lay out the batter in rings.
Fry and finish
Heat lard in a pot until boiling.
Carefully place the crullers in the lard, frying a few at a time until golden brown.
Remove the crullers with a skimmer.
Drain excess lard back into the pot.
Place the crullers on a large dish.
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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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together24,377 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the starch and gluten structure that holds the dough together when fried.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, and help the dough set as it cooks.
- Fresh butter
- Adds fat for a tender texture and rich flavor.
- Loaf sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the crullers brown in the fat.
- Water
- Hydrates the flour so the dough forms, and its steam helps the crullers puff while frying.
The step that matters
Frying in hot lard. Hot fat sets the outside of the dough quickly so it absorbs less oil. If the lard is not hot enough, the crullers soak up fat, turn greasy, and cook unevenly.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, butter, egg):
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Nutmegthe original
- Jalapenofits less well
- Capersfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, butter, egg. 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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