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Doughnuts (II)
Mrs. Howe.
One teacup of sugar, half a cup of sweet milk, two eggs, three tablespoons melted butter, half a teaspoonful of soda; spice with cinnamon and nutmeg.
This is a receipt in the older sense: a list of proportions for a cook who already knows what a doughnut is. Flour, the frying fat and the method are all left to your judgment, so treat the list below as the skeleton of a dough you finish by feel.
- The missing ingredientNo flour is given, and none is implied by any standard. Add it gradually — roughly 3 to 3 1/2 cups for this quantity of liquid — until the dough is soft but rolls out at about 1/3 inch without sticking. Stop as soon as it holds together; extra flour is what makes a heavy doughnut.
- Teacup, not measuring cupA nineteenth-century teacup runs a little under a modern 8-ounce cup, commonly reckoned at about 3/4 cup. One teacup of sugar is roughly 5 to 6 oz; half a cup of milk can be taken at face value.
- Soda without an acidHalf a teaspoon of soda in sweet (unsoured) milk has nothing to react with beyond the small acidity of the milk itself, and the rise will be poor with a faint soapy edge. Period cooks generally paired soda with sour milk or buttermilk; a teaspoon of cream of tartar sifted into the flour restores the intended chemistry, or substitute two teaspoons of baking powder for the soda.
- Spices"Spice with cinnamon and nutmeg" leaves the quantities to you; about a teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg suits this quantity. Nutmeg is often the leading note in American fried cakes, but the recipe gives no proportions, so balance them to taste.
- Frying fat and temperatureNo fat or vessel is named; lard or beef drippings in a deep kettle would have been usual for fried cakes of this kind. Any neutral fat at 365-370F works; below 350F the dough drinks fat, above 385F the outside colours before the centre sets. Fry two or three minutes total, turning once when the underside is deep gold.
- Resting the doughChill the mixed dough 30 minutes before rolling. A butter-and-egg dough handled warm tears and absorbs fat; cold dough cuts cleanly and holds its ring.
- YieldAbout 18 to 24 doughnuts at a 2 1/2-inch cutter, plus the holes. They are at their best within a few hours of frying.
Doughnuts came into American kitchens by way of Dutch fried cakes, the olykoek or oil cake, and they were long everyday fried cakes made from pantry staples rather than a delicacy. The recipe's form is as revealing as its contents. Attributed simply to Mrs. Howe and printed with no flour quantity, no rolling thickness and no frying instruction, it was never meant to teach a beginner; it was meant to record one woman's particular proportions of sugar, egg and butter for readers who had been making doughnuts since childhood.