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Dessert

Doughnuts

A fried doughnut made with sugar, shortening, eggs, milk, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Doughnuts

Why it works: Cinnamon and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,341 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Doughnuts

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dough

  1. In a bowl, mix sugar and shortening until creamy.

  2. Add the whole egg and egg yolk, then mix well.

  3. Stir in milk, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

  4. Gradually add flour until the dough is soft and workable.

Shape and fry

  1. Roll out the dough and cut into doughnut shapes.

  2. Fry in hot oil until golden brown, turning often.

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.

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.

  1. Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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 dough and add richness and structure as it sets in the fryer.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar to release gas, helping the doughnuts rise.
Cream of tartar
Provides acidity that activates the baking soda for lift and a tender crumb.
Shortening
Adds fat that tenderises the dough and carries flavour.
Milk
Adds moisture that hydrates the flour and helps form a soft dough.

The step that matters

Fry in hot oil until golden brown, turning often. If the oil is too cool, doughnuts absorb excess oil and turn greasy; if too hot, the outside browns before the centre cooks. Turning often gives even colour and cooking.

Swap the cinnamon

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

  1. Nutmegfits about as well
  2. Cinnamonthe original
  3. Jalapenofits less well
  4. Turmericfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, milk, cream, 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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