My fascination with doughnuts began in my childhood. Once a year we visited my grandparents who lived 5 states away. Grandma was the none measuring, have it all in my head, work it until it feels right, everything from scratch, type of cook. Every visit included home made donuts. Wait….I need a moment to collect myself! It’s not much of a stretch to describe these as Manna from heaven. I don’t know what she did to them, but I have never tasted anything as delectable since.
Doing research for this blog, it became apparent to me that I was not alone in my addiction and captivation of this confection. Pick a country, any country and they have a donut variation and, sadly, I want to try them all. The thing they all have in common is that they are fried in some kind of oil, be it ghee (India), coconut oil (Philippines), or good ole corn oil. My favorite international description comes from Pakistan. The Navaz Sharif is covered in chocolate, filled with cream (ala Boston Cream) and costs twice as much as the regular variety. It is meant to “make you corrupt” if you eat it. This is a doughnut I can relate to!
Once again we have disputed origins for the doughnut. Several
theories exist with the ring shaped honors going to Hansen Gregory who
at the tender age of sixteen punched a hole in the center of dough with a
tin pepper box and later trained his mother in the technique (wonder if
she knew my Grandma?). Another suggestion has North American Dutch
settlers popularizing olykoek (Dutch, literally, “oil cake”) a
“sweetened cake fried in fat”. Nothing beats the “mythological” status
of the theory that traces it all back to a cow in colonial days. Elsie,
supposedly, accidentally kicked over a pot of oil onto a mixture of
pastry. Yeah. And the cow that started the fire in Chicago invented BBQ!
While a doughnut can stand on its own for eating, many pair it with milk, tea or coffee, even going so far as to “dunk”. Clark Gable popularized this method in the movie “It Happened One Night”. But we can re-visit the rumor mill where Mae Murray, of New York City, “accidentally” dropped her fresh doughnut into her cup of coffee. Where there are no written codes, Dunking Etiquette in our home forbid dunking past the first knuckle. Not sure what the punishment was for this infraction but you can be assured the rule was religiously observed.
Popular culture has kept the doughnut in the lime light. From Homer Simpson’s love affair with doughnuts, to film (ex. “Dora’s Dunking Doughnuts” -1933), music albums (“The Doughnut in Granny’s Greenhouse”), children’s book (Arnie the Doughnut) and the Staunton , Illinois race, the “Tour de Donut”.
While doughnuts have never fallen out of fashion, I see a doughnut resurgence similar to the cupcake update. Expect to see designer and bizarre combinations. Leave me a note and tell me what concoction you’d like to see next to your breakfast beverage. You may invent the next doughnut success and get a footnote in history!
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