Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Doughnuts
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
In a bowl, mix brown sugar, sour milk, egg, sour cream (or melted butter), baking soda, and salt.
Gradually add flour until a soft dough forms.
Roll out the dough and cut into doughnut shapes.
Fry and finish
Heat lard in a frying pot until hot enough to brown a piece of bread almost instantly.
Fry the doughnuts in the hot fat until golden brown.
Drain on brown paper to absorb excess fat.
Roll in powdered sugar and place in a shallow pan to cool.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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
- Sour milk
- Acidity reacts with baking soda to produce gas that lifts the dough.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in sour milk, releasing carbon dioxide so the doughnuts rise.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the doughnuts brown during frying.
- Egg
- Binds the dough and adds structure and richness.
- Flour
- Forms the gluten network that gives the dough its structure.
- Sour cream or melted butter
- Adds fat and tenderness, making the crumb softer.
The step that matters
Heating the frying fat. If the fat is not hot enough, doughnuts absorb excess oil and turn greasy and heavy. If it is too hot, the outside browns before the inside cooks. Testing with a piece of bread helps judge the right temperature.
“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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