The History of Doughnuts

[@TastingHistory]

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[@coreymerrill3257]

Nut type bolt fasteners we're square until the 1950s-1960s. Today we universally use what are called " hex nuts". A square would be correct for a period correct donut

[@juliebaker6969]

The doughnuts would have been sweeter if you had rolled them in the powdered sugar instead of just sprinkling them. That's the way my great grandma taught me to do it. Drain them for a minute or so on several layers of paper towels, then into the powdered sugar while they're still hot. That last is important when frying in lard, since the lard solidifies as they get cold, and the sugar doesn't stick as well.

[@KrakenWasSlayed]

Thanks for the new video max hope you have a good day

[@Yankee_Doodle_Dandy]

Nice “It Happened One Night” reference! You continue to surprise me.

[@michealbohmer2871]

In Australia we, largely, still spell it "doughnut", though there are some franchise shops, such as Donut King, that use the American spelling. Some places also sell Doughnut Holes which looks like the doughnut ball you make here but about half the size, thus it appears as though it is the actual centre of the the doughnut (though I'm sure you guys probably have them, too). On a side note, it is important to remember, if you ever come to Australia and going swimming at the beach, that it is not true that the sharks here will swallow ya' whole -- they always spit that out.😂

[@Lauren.E.O]

“THE WONDERFUL ALMOST HUMAN AUTOMATIC DONUT MACHINE” is an amazing name and I fully support it making a comeback for modern donut makers

[@Brohemian_Fapsody]

That’s my stripper stage name

[@k8eekatt]

Almost human! It's Not handmade and not artisanal

[@strangerinwhite]

I want to make it my band name.

[@ladykoiwolfe]

I actually scared my mom when I burst out laughing at that name. She came into my room to complain.

[@eburel506]

I would want one in my home….but my waistline wouldn’t like it.

[@fazdoll]

Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Farmer Boy," (one of the Little House books) which was set just after the Civil War, had a whole donut discussion. Mother made twisted donuts (which we still see today) because the twist caused them to turn over by themselves. Mother had heard of "newfangled" donuts with a hole in the middle, but she dismissed the idea because she didn't have time to turn the donuts.

[@LurkerSmurf]

Wish I could hit 👍five times! That's exactly what I was thinking. Holes (in America) must date to the 1860s-70s.

[@chefanthony34714]

Crullers were mentioned in The Wizard of Oz. Twisted pastries!

[@effya3539]

I'll never forget Ma Wilder's saltiness over other housewives who had time to fool around with flipping donuts.

[@emitaylor4094]

I was thinking of that story! I think she called them "vanities"?

[@esther_margolis]

@@emitaylor4094 the vanity cakes were the ones Laura's mom made for her party. the were called vanity cakes because they were all puffed up but empty inside! in farmer boy Almanzo talks about the twisted donuts. :)

[@MaxxRide175]

As a descendent of Captain Gregory and a long time fan of this channel I spent this whole video yelling "DON'T LET ME DOWN MAX" until you got to my family's one claim to fame. We also agree the ships wheel was a myth and also believe Elizabeth likely just cut out the center out of preference or annoyance and her son got the credit (classic). The family has not followed the tradition of making donuts and or food innovating but my dad and I are unnervingly good at locating a Dunkin's. And are still waiting for the day they give us free lifetime donuts for essentially enabling their whole deal.

[@deanvennard6925]

You are missing a golden opportunity ! If that one thing people love it’s a story with what they are buying especially food stuffs !

[@alalalala57]

@@deanvennard6925 Exactly. The Captain's Doughnuts? Sounds like money to me!

[@reaper_exd7498]

So the fact that it's rumored also that doughnuts as they are now became a creation of necessity for and by pony express riders means nothing to you?

[@MaxxRide175]

@@reaper_exd7498 yeah man not really 🤷‍♂️

[@UnmarkedPlanet]

I'd definitely buy cap'n doughnuts 🐷

[@TodayIFoundOut]

And interesting thing to note about pretty much the exact time dougnuts with holes became popular in New York, bagels also were all the rage and commonly stocked in windows stacked on wooden dowels and by street venders this way... So its pure conjecture, BUT it seems likely by the almost exactly matching dates, venders just got the bright idea that this version of the doughnut was the way to go for similar practical reasons as the bagels. -Daven

[@taylorkai4144]

i was waiting for bagels to be mentioned!

[@SquigglesZero]

I live in Hungary. When my grandmother used to make doughnuts, she made it flat and pinched the middle. So there is no hole, but the middle is thin and crispy. Plus this creates a nice little nest for powdered sugar and jam. Ps.: My grandmother is fine, but 93 years old she is just too old to mess around with doughnuts.

[@theparijat1000]

Nice to know :)

[@restezlameme]

That actually sounds awesome!

[@tomevers6670]

I put the first hole with my pole.

[@froschgrosch5247]

Sounds similar to what is known in Southern Germany as "Kücherl" or "Küchle"

[@h_chris5527]

May she be blessed with a long and healthy life

[@TheIvoryDingo]

I only just realised that Max can call "buying Pokemon plushes" a business expense.

[@AlexanderNigbor]

he can cant he, so jealous

[@JudgeNicodemus]

God damn... That's absolutely genius. I applaud thee Max.

[@eburel506]

I mean it’s for work…..

[@dmckim3174]

José probably does more of the buying. Well he has more justification for the expanding collection. 😉

[@Blufuzzyhat]

Make me wonder if the plushies have their own room at this rate. Must be a nice collection by now.

[@BartWronsk]

Polish donuts “pączki” don’t have a hole in them - instead they are flatter and have a jam or cream filling inside to avoid undercooking. Jam is often rose petal one - absolutely delicious - and probably one of Middle Eastern influences. On Shrove Thursday (that Poles celebrate like Mardi Gras) you are supposed to eat a lot of them - companies, families, friends bringing you some. There were years I ate 6 of them :)

[@dagmarastaporek5320]

Do you mean fat Thursday/ tłusty czwartek? Lmao

[@BartWronsk]

@@dagmarastaporek5320 yes, everywhere else in the world it is celebrated on Tuesday en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrove_Tuesday :)

[@dagmarastaporek5320]

@@BartWronsk ohh cool I didn’t know that 😭

[@catcatcat-meow]

Here in Germany we have Krapfen or Berliner which are basically the same as what you described. We also eat them on Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras :D

[@mew11two]

I love Polish doughnuts they're always huge. Much love for Poland from England

[@katipunanball4799]

11:07 She's living the dream, holding a puppy in one hand and a donut in the other.

[@elfodelputoinfierno]

She really is. Her dress is gorgeous too!

[@melissabarrett9750]

Life goals 😉

[@jacthing1]

@@elfodelputoinfierno imagine the oil getting on that dress. Possibly being made of silk too

[@Threetails]

Knowing "plums" can refer to raisins or currants is a small but surprisingly important detail that really changes how you can interpret these old recipes.

[@alexsis1778]

I know right? Putting a modern day plum in the middle would provide a very different experience.

[@priscillajimenez27]

What about sugar plums? 😮

[@TheKira699]

In Australia we have Doughnut Trucks that sit outside football grounds and you can watch the dough nuts cooking and being filled with jam, then sugared. Fresh HOT jam dough nuts on a cold winter's day in July, watching your team battle it out playing Aussie Rules football. HEAVEN.

[@figmo397]

Your story of solid donuts being raw in the middle reminds me of an old family story. My aunt made paczki (traditional solid Polish donuts) for her husband. He complimented her, saying "I really LOVE the cream in the middle! That wasn't cream; it was underdone donut batter. :-D

[@agirly1503]

😀

[@nickreinbold8703]

is she still alive it's been 10 months?

[@gabrielandradeferraz386]

Its not a bug, its a feature

[@aidanfarnan4683]

"... Because he will do almost anything rather than finish the Game of Thrones books" is the most savage burn anyone has ever receved in a kitchen. Well done Max!

[@odinfromcentr2]

So does that mean everyone dies? 😛

[@kyle18934]

@@odinfromcentr2 lol everybodys favorite character dies im guessing.

[@angiebee2225]

@@odinfromcentr2 I predict Martin will die before he has a chance to kill everybody in the series. Because he will take on any project to avoid finishing his Song of Ice and Fire series.

[@patriciaaturner289]

😂😂😂😂

[@OcarinaSapphr-]

Yep- that sent me!

[@Waldemarvonanhalt]

We still have doughnuts like that in South Africa. In Bantu languages they're usually called magwinya. In Afrikaans they're called vetkoek (fat cake), because of lard having been the primary source of frying oil in the past. The sweetest way of serving them is cut open with thick syrup in them. (Think molases consistency, eg. Tate & Lyle) Cape Malay people make a smaller, slightly flatter one rolled in dessicated coconut. Oliebolle is now used to refer to ring shaped doughnuts.

[@doorboerstra7584]

ooo I love vetkoek, especially with curried mince and a lot of blatjang in it

[@barrymalkin4404]

@@doorboerstra7584 Thank goodness for the internet. I had never heard of blatjang before I read your comments. Having read a recipe for it on Wikipedia, it sounds like a wonderful dried fruit chutney to put on anything.

[@debravictoria7452]

@@barrymalkin4404 I'll have to check that out. Sounds good! 😋

[@KajiRider1997]

Vetkoek and doughnuts have the same origin. the oliekoek or oliebol. That's dutch colonialism for you. Edit: I was joking btw, only the name lol.

[@melissafoh9373]

My childhood right in the comments lol. How I missed vetkoek with mince

[@emmmkay9041]

This video brought up some memories of doughnuts in literature. In Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Farmer Boy," Almanzo's mom cooks doughnuts in a twisted form and makes derogatory remarks about new-fangled style doughnuts with a hole on the basis of you have to turn those over. In her opinion the doughnuts made with a twist turn themselves over in the hot oil, so those are better. The other story I remember is in Robert McCloskey's "Homer Price" where a local shop gets a doughnut making machine similar to the one Max describes, but it has a mechanical problem and they can't shut it off and it just keeps making doughnuts. The Homer Price story is a fun one with great illustrations, I highly recommend it. :)

[@katherinec2759]

I was looking through the comments to see if anyone mentioned Homer Price. That's exactly what I thought of too.

[@clara7517]

I also thought of Farmer Boy and the doughnut twists, as soon as Max mentioned the question of when the hole was invented. It seems, like any new trend, they took a while to catch on. Also "Homer Price" is a great kid's book that more people should know about.

[@loriloristuff]

Both! Robert McCloskey wrote a clever book, and Laura Ingalls Wilder's description of her husband's life as a boy was extremely interesting.

[@mei8511]

I was so surprised to hear about "luqam al-qadi'! Hearing about it gave me so much nostalgia since I grew up in the UAE and always ate luqaimat coated in date syrup. It was so interesting to hear about the history of one of my favourite snacks

[@IRFengshui]

I still know the "let bread soak up the fat"-thing from my great-grandmother. Seldom she would make Krapfen, the german equivalent to doughnuts, and not a drop of lard would be wasted by laying the Krapfen on a wire-rack over bread, fresh bread, not dry, as she insisted. This fatty bread would be shingled with Aufschnitt (thinly sliced Sausage) and be eaten by whoever didn't want a sweet treat but a savory one. Fatty bread with sausage... yep that's how you survive two world wars and multiple "Hungerwinter". Danke, Oma Gusti. The thing that utterly vexes me is that I can't read her recipe-book because it's written in Sütterlin a special kind of old german handwriting that's almost indecipherable for modern Germans.

[@ladykoiwolfe]

That is so terribly sad. Maybe a linguist can help?

[@kayerin5749]

I would go to a local uni with a good German language department. I know my former teacher, since retired, loved the old German. You might get referrals or be able to have a student give it a go to help his studies (with the professors supervision of course.)

[@MarkLinJA]

Hallo! I actually am learning German right now at Uni and that led me to end up learning how to write the old Kurrentschrift (Sütterlin is its descendant) as a procrastination project 😅 There are plenty of resources online that can help you learn Sütterlin and the place that started it all off for me are the pages for Kurrent and Sütterlin on Wikipedia, so my advice is that you look there first! Viel Glück und viel Spaß!

[@CODDE117]

@@kayerin5749 I could imagine it would be a fun project! It's nice for your studies to also be useful in real time.

[@ReggieArford]

@@kayerin5749 Sounds like a Senior Project to me.

[@mzfreddie]

I came for doughnut history and got a dig at GRR Martin. Perfection.

[@drallagon]

By the end result I find it funny the NYT writer using "dreamily" to describe the donuts, because the Brazilian variant I'd say it's basically what you did, but with a filling of jam, chocolate or cream in the middle. We call it "sonho" with translates to "dream" lol (there's also a dad joke about it: "the dream is over... better buy more at the shop")

[@elfodelputoinfierno]

Nosso sonho parece mais com o bagulho dos alemães do que esses donuts deles tbh

[@fabriziogiuliano6220]

I have a lot of respect for your ability to pronounce so many different words of so many languages so well (I think)

[@ellemski]

I watch many of Tasting History’s videos with subtitles and always enjoy Jose’s little additions-“Nom Nom” and “Chomp” in this one. 🍩😂 Thank you to Max and Jose for all of your great content! 😘😎🥳🤩🎉

[@TastingHistory]

Happy New Year, and thanks for watching the content :)

[@superakman14]

In Greece, we still have those round doughnuts, served with honey and nuts. They are called λουκουμάδες(loukoumades), which probably comes from luqam al-qadi mentioned in the video.

[@champo976]

Woah thats really cool!

[@melindamuller4466]

Oh I looove them, we went to Greece and visited some friends there and we always got them from some dudes walking around along the beachside selling them, super delicious.

[@battra92]

Figures they'd fry doughnuts in Greece. 😂

[@da7389]

Same in Egypt, its called Loukm Al-Qadi which literally means the judge's bites

[@yourworstnightmare1488]

@@da7389 so that is where we got the name from hahaha

[@texaschrissy1985]

My granddaughter could not say doughnuts when she was little, she called them doughgos. From then on that's what we have called them. My grandmother made them into balls and rolled them in powdered sugar. Learning how they started was fun to learn. Thank you Max.

[@blanchekonieczka9935]

One of my sons called them nonuts when he was little.

[@92JazzQueen]

Man, that would be a good brand name or a special kind of donut.

[@mr.jglokta191]

Not to be confused with doggos

[@mr.jglokta191]

@@blanchekonieczka9935 did he only get them in November? (Sorry, but I couldn't resist)

[@blanchekonieczka9935]

@@mr.jglokta191 🤣

[@paulbombardier8722]

I’ve been watching the videos in no certain order and I love the respectful yet not too serious history tales. A nice balance between the two and always informative. Thank you, Max.

[@xxrobbandsinn5162]

This is literally one of the only wholesome things I have to look forward to in the week. Keep up the great work bud!

[@Lauren.E.O]

Has anyone ever had a freshly fried donut, sold still warm? *MAGNIFICENT* ✨

[@rejoyce318]

Yes, and I still have not yet managed to replicate the glorious doughnuts from the former Lamppost restaurant in Gettysburg, PA. Their hot doughnuts literally melted in one's mouth.

[@Lauren.E.O]

@Ordo Militaris Radio TV I’m not really a morning person, so I can’t trust myself to fry something before noon. I need the caffeine to kick in first or it would be risky. Dessert donuts could be good, though…

[@lovi9258]

Krispy Kreme. I could eat a whole box

[@lipstickzombie4981]

@Ordo Militaris Radio TV With how most of my clan makes fried pastry, I have no plans ending up in a hospital unless one will foot my bills thank you.

[@thespankmyfrank]

@Ordo Militaris Radio TV Probably because they only want one? Or because they can't bake? Or because they just like the taste more and know it'll be well made? Or because they want to support a local business? There's plenty of reasons someone would buy something rather than make it themselves. And I'm a baker, I understand buying because it's hard work making donuts.

[@sarahburke8955]

When I used to chef at one particular restaurant, we made fresh sweet potato doughnuts, and they were amazing. Served with a warm drizzle of bourbon caramel sauce, YUM.

[@reginaromsey]

Spoon Tease! Leaving us here with no recipe!

[@mellie4174]

Omg! That sounds amazing!

[@mellie4174]

Please give us the recipe!

[@Amy_Stanmore]

Recipe? Or it didn't happen...

[@katiegustafson6765]

May we pretty please,with sugar on top, have the recipe?

[@wieskegeluk6546]

I absolutely love that so many countries share this delicious fried dough ball in so many varieties. It only further proofs how good of an idea it is to fry and sugar dough.

[@IxiaClover]

my favourite fried dough is the korean hoddeok, the rice flour makes it slightly chewy which is actually an excellent consistency. it sounds a lot like the chinese version you mentioned in the video

[@christinelamb1167]

Mmmm, those sound delicious! I have celiac, so I love that many types of various asian desserts are made of rice flour (gluten free). Over the years I have come to love the chewiness that rice flour gives to rice cakes, and other types of desserts. Also, asian desserts tend to be less sweet, which I also appreciate!

[@Jawharqh__]

6:04 fun fact this still is a very popular dessert in the Middle East except its now called luqaimat, its like a donut but not at the same time (obviously) and we drizzle some honey or syrup on them and voila you've got a very delicious luqaimat !! its a must have when we have arabic coffee after the sun sets and its very delicious if I do say so myself.

[@greyghost4448]

Fun fact: In Germany we have this New Year's Eve tradition, where one Krapfen out of a batch is filled with mustard rather than jelly. Allegedly it brings good luck to whoever eats the spicy one.

[@BurgundySorcerer]

That’s so German lol

[@greyghost4448]

@@BurgundySorcerer What else do you expect from the people, who coined the phrase "Schadenfreude"?

[@Nutsandbolts00]

Berliner

[@kaitlyn__L]

How strong is this mustard? If it’s like English mustard I think I couldn’t eat it, but if milder like Dijon I probably could if I believed it was bringing me luck.

[@greyghost4448]

@@kaitlyn__L Well, it all depends on the mood of the host. It could be anything from sweet bavarian mustard to something extra hot.

[@lizardbreathh]

Had me chuckling "GRRM will do anything to not finish Winds" Can't wait for that book

[@divideby000]

You could see the fires of rage glisten, just for a moment, as he said it, yeah.

[@maudline]

Yeah and with the new targaryen show coming as well who knows when the book will drop. Everybody will probably be the surpriced pickachoo meme 😅

[@caseyflorida]

When I was a child my mother made doughnuts every Saturday morning. She fried them in Crisco. We would get up and eat warm doughnuts as she took them out of the pan and drained them on paper towels. Absolutely delicious! Great memory for me.

[@be6715]

How did people eat like that and still stay thin? Good genetics I guess.

[@Turtle_time47]

@@be6715 People didn't eat as much high calorie foods back then. A bottle of coke alone has 200 calories.

[@reginaromsey]

@@be6715 hard physical work, not sitting down a lot, walking everywhere, even (horror of hours) to School and back, or even home for lunch and back to school for the afternoon classes!

[@robskalas]

We used to have pancakes (another good video topic?) or French toast on Sunday mornings.

[@be6715]

@@robskalas My father made blueberry pancakes for me each sunday. I still can't make them as good. It was a box mix too, but dad just had a way.

[@Streetw1s3r]

The shape and texture of these remind me of donuts I used to get from a food truck at a market, they were unlike any normal donut, but were balls with jam and the dough itself was more golden in colour and tasted so nice and sweet. I think maybe they put something in it, perhaps rum or vanilla. I haven't had them in almost 10 years but they were the best donuts.

[@sshlept8070]

Sour cream?

[@Streetw1s3r]

@@sshlept8070 No

[@steves9333]

Fun Fact: Donuts or "Krapfen" have actually many different names in the various regions of Germany: Krapfen ist more of a Swabian and Bavarian Word, but they are also called "Berliner", "Pfannkuchen" ("pancakes" because they are fried in a pan of lard) and many more. and also the serving differs just like American Donuts: you can find them with powder sugar, icing, schocolade, with marmelade or cream filling and much more 😂

[@heidimisfeldt5685]

Berliner, with a sweet custard filling. That's a sweet treat. 😋

[@heidimisfeldt5685]

If it doesn't have chocolate somehow somewhere, why bother eating it.

[@hiyahandsome]

"'Keep your eye upon the donut and not upon the hole.' Definitely words to live by." Thanks, Max Miller, for bringing back memories of my mom making donuts when I was young. Deelish!

[@toonezon4836]

reminds me of something my grandma used to say, i thin she credited my grandpa for it though, she used to say "separate the donut from the hole" when reading/writing/listening to/hearing something, particularly when dealing with flowery or highly technical/legalese type language. theres all this language, but what is it really saying? its especially good advice when editing or analyzing a piece of media

[@ankeuttajaespanjassa]

Finland still lives in old times, I have made those "ancient donuts" at home. "In Finland, a sweet doughnut is called a munkki (the word also means monk) and are commonly eaten in cafés and cafeteria restaurants."

[@RamenPoweredShitFactory]

We also have Munkar (Literally Monks) in Sweden :)

[@thespankmyfrank]

I studied to become a pastry chef here in Sweden and we made "munkar" filled with apple sauce. They were super hard to fry since they were raw in the middle but burnt on the outside - totally understand why there's holes in donuts now.

[@lasskinn474]

did they float and were flipped midway? I'm no baker but I think that's somewhat important for not burning them. the filled munkar/munkit and berliner usually you see the light colored region around the circumference. that way the insides have more time for heating I guess while both sides get less time.

[@Sarcorco]

We make a batch every spring, it's traditional around mayday to eat munkki with sima, a type of low alcohol mead.

[@0neDoomedSpaceMarine]

Jag gillar munkar, munkar, munkar med hål i.

[@purplealice]

My older female relatives were notable cooks. They all owned "donut cutters" - a large round cookie cutter with a smaller circular cutter in the center which could be removed for cleaning. (I had an aunt who had been a war bride, from Britain - she objected violently to the spelling "donut". She didn't make them anyway.)

[@EastSider48215]

I have one of those doughnut cutters. I inherited from my mom, who got it from her mom. Love it!

[@janach1305]

My mother had the same among her cookie cutters. One summer she went on a binge of making different kinds of doughnuts. Besides the cookie cutter, she had a special device for making dropped donuts, which dropped rings of batter into the hot oil.

[@jonesnori]

I have one, too. The middle is removable not only for cleaning, though - without it you have a biscuit cutter. I mean American scone-like biscuits, but it works fine for British biscuits (cookies), too.

[@EastSider48215]

@@jonesnori: I love that tiny middle piece. When I was a little girl, my mom used it to make tiny cookies for children’s tea parties.

[@jonesnori]

@@EastSider48215 Aww, what a sweet idea!

[@Linnet09]

I remember seeing one of those doughnut making machines in the bakery section of a big department store. I was well into my teens, but unfamiliar with the big city - or, in fact, seeing doughnuts being made. The older women of my family were great cooks and bakers, but did not make doughnuts. Just like the men in that clip, I stared through the window at that magic machine producing doughnuts for a ridiculously long period of time! It must have been good advertising because although of course you couldn't reach the doughnuts, you could smell them, and walk around the corner and buy them.

[@christinelamb1167]

I remember going to the county fair as a kid, and seeing doughnuts being made on one of those machines. I was equally as fascinated as you!

[@NanoVoice]

As a footnote, from a dutch person: it is quite easy to make an oliebol that is neither burnt, nor raw in the middle. It's a question of getting the temperature right (170-175 Celsius). This is admittedly easier in our days with digital thermometers and adjustable heat on our stoves, then it was towards the "end of the dutch dynasty" :P

[@Mechabang]

When you mention Martin riding elder ring to avoid the song of ice and fire novels, I honestly spat out my coffee this morning, laughing! It was exactly as I was thinking when I first saw his name on The game.

[@lokisgodhi]

Back on a vacation trip my family took back in the mid 70s we came across a doughnut shop making them in the early morning. So fresh that they injected the jelly flavors we wanted into them while still warm. Being it was the 70s they were likely still being cooked in animal fats. *Best doughnuts ever.*

[@DIEGhostfish]

Ah animal fats, such a lost art.

[@debravictoria7452]

In the 60's we had a stainless steel container that always sat out on the stove, marked GREASE. Seems everyone saved and reused bacon grease. Sounds gross now 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@DIEGhostfish]

@@debravictoria7452 It was good for ya!

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@debravictoria7452 I know a couple people who still save their skimmed fats and never use butter

[@nahte123]

I think this is my favorite episode so far. I like doughnuts, and both the reenactment of eating a donut off a ship's wheel and pointing out the lack of "dreamily" synonyms made me laugh aloud.

[@Lauren.E.O]

When I was younger, I was told donuts had holes so ship captains could keep them on the wheel when they were busy at work and have a readily available snack. No clue how they came up with that or if that was an actual theory people shared, but it was a lot of fun to imagine. 🍩 🛥

[@TastingHistory]

I talk about that 🤣

[@Lauren.E.O]

@@TastingHistory I just got there! 🤣

[@Nobert594]

I'm sorry but do you not do that

[@lasskinn474]

certain flat rye bread has holes you can put them on horizontal poles out of the way near ceilings and they stay dry

[@NorthernWiner]

I remember reading this somewhere when I was younger, too. Possibly in World Book Encyclopedia.

[@alonespirit9923]

Cat in kitchen drawing on cover of cookbook at 7:02 caught my attention since I'm watching this while snuggled with 2 orange tabby rescue fellows. As it happens our little county seat farm burg has a pretty decent locally owned donut shop.

[@t.c.2776]

I make "fried dough" using the frozen bread dough from the supermarket... it's simple and easy, thaw, let rise, pull off a chunk and stretch it out like a mini pizza about 5-6 inches in diameter and carefully lay it in your hot oil... it puffs up like a donut (without a hole)... sprinkle with regular sugar, powdered sugar, syrup, or jams... no mixing, no kneading, no mess... I suppose you could roll it out and use a donut cutter and make "real" donuts...

[@snazzypazzy]

This is so cool! As a Dutchie I love to see us represented. :) I make oliebollen each year for new years, from an old familiy recipe, and it's a lot of work to do it in the traditional way (compared to the more modern packages you can buy in the supermarket here.) The dough is more thin, we shape it with two spoons and drop it in the oil. To get them cooked on the inside and not to dark on the outside can indeed be a struggle, secret is to not add to much at once in the pot to keep the temp up and to make them on the smaller side. We add currents and raisins and fry them in sunflower oil. And while they do get a little dry after a while, oliebollen can be easily saved for up to a week (probably more without spoiling although I don't think they will taste as nice) and they make for excellent hangover breakfast for new years morning. We also make a variation with apple, where we put a slice of apple with cinnamon and sugar in the dough and fry that. And to be honest I don't love doughnuts all that much? They can be so very sweet, our recipe is very low on sugar. (66 grams of sugar per 1000 g flour. And 400-500 g raisins/currents. But there's sugar on top.)

[@telebubba5527]

HaHaHa. I find them not even being sweet enough when I buy them. I always sprinkle cinnamon sugar on them to sweeten them up. The Dutch donuts are also quite dry, I find, more like cake. It amazes me that there is a Dutch connection, because when I arrived here in the 60's (I'm a Dutch descendant returned here) noone had even heard of them. It took years before the first ones appeared and they were really horrible. I only buy them only once in a while, just for memories sake.

[@mynamejeff3545]

@@telebubba5527 Store-bought oliebollen are always dry, because they've already dried out after being kept for too long. Store-bought ones also don't have dried fruit in it (and even if there's raisins inside, it's awfully little), which contributes to the dryness. If you make your own oliebollen, even with store-bought mix, they'll stay moist inside for hours. At some point, they do get gross though. They're not meant to be kept long.

[@kramermariav]

Oliebollen are so good! My husband makes them. We dip them in powdered sugar. 😋

[@telebubba5527]

@@mynamejeff3545 I know, but I was talking about donuts😉

[@MrBlueBurd0451]

Currants and raisins being VERY optional, that is. In certain families you'd get shot if you offered them ones with, and in others you'd get shot if you offered them without.

[@Vertifuge]

The Amish community back home always made them akin to this recipe, fried in lard, but in a "big hole" form more like a doughnut from the 1920s. Definitely a treat, and also definitely more filling than most store-bought doughnuts.

[@Terrelli9]

Whale oil donuts. Yum. I’m glad they stopped doing that. Although it would present the possibility that Dunkin Donuts could’ve been called Moby Dunks, which is a delightful thought.

[@maudline]

And considering starbucks is also a moby dick reference it is sad we can’t have both

[@Terrelli9]

@@maudline Excellent point!

[@lisaspikes4291]

I’ve never tasted whale oil, but I can’t imagine it tastes very good. 😝

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

@@maudline Their competition would be their white whale.

[@Fulcrum205]

After you fried up a batch of doughnut you can burn the used oil in your lamps and give the house (or ship) a yummy smell

[@shannonrobinson262]

I found a recipe for cake donuts in the first Fanny farmer cookbook. She calls them drop cakes. I adjusted the recipe by adding 1/2 tsp nutmeg and using vanilla sugar( just used vanilla beans put into sugar that rests in a jar for 2 months.) I cook them in peanut oil then use a thin glaze on them. So yummy. They take 20 minutes total to make. They are so good. Update: I’m making your recipe now. I did add 1/4 tsp ground mace. I made classic donut shape and a couple I made twisted donuts. Can’t wait to fry them up, but the dough is so soft and silky to work with once it raises and you add a bit more flour to form them. So lovely to work with. 4 teenagers to feed them to. I foresee they won’t last long😉. Love the video too. Thank you for all you do for we subscribers.

[@davegreenlaw5654]

Love the shout-out to Tim Horton's - or just Tim's - where the easiest order is still a 'medium double-double'. However, here in the Toronto area, we have another company, called Tiny Tom Donuts. They started out a half-century ago at the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) with donut making machines that seem quite similar to the description of that machine in your video. Their main booth in the Food Building at the CNE still has four machines, each rhythmically pumping out a tiny ring of dough from a vat into the center of a spiral canal of hot oil. The tiny donuts slowly move around the spiral as they fry on one side, only to be flipped by a flipper halfway through their journey. Then they finish frying on their other side, eventually travelling up a mesh ramp, to be dropped onto another conveyor belt, whisked along to the collection area, where they are bundled into bags of one dozen each, awaiting whatever topping the customer desires: icing sugar, cinnamon, or apple cinnamon...or just plain, if you want the pure fried flavour to yourself.

[@rosettewinger4490]

In Kenya our donuts are the same ingredients and similar to the ones in 1803, but ours can be balls, squares, or triangle shaped. We take them with Kenyan tea in the morning. Love your videos!

[@mackdog3270]

I remember a story from when I was very young, it still makes me smile to think of it. It was about a donut shop with an automatic donut maker that went haywire, and couldn't be turned off, making tons of donuts.

[@Pygar2]

Homer Price?!

[@mackdog3270]

@@Pygar2 Yep, that sounds right! I couldn't remember the name, but for some reason the Simpsons came to mind.

[@stanlygirl5951]

@@Pygar2 I read that! In Boys Life magazine, I think. My two brothers were Boy Scouts. I really didn't care much for Girl Scouts, nor the Girls' Friendly Society, I wanted to be a Boy Scout. Alas, not to be back in the 1960s.

[@hueandcrylancer]

I've long thought that doughnuts and their relatives are one of what I call the universal food formats. Wherever, and probably whenever, a suitable carb has existed alongside the ability to bring pans of fat up to the necessary temperature some variety of deep-fried dough has happened.

[@TheGolux]

as I have read it somewhere else, "Humans do be frying dough!"

[@VizzyDeluxe]

Congrats on reaching 1M! I remember subscribing to this little channel at 50k and falling in love with the content

[@magda5942]

Just found this channel today & I’m obsessed with it.

[@garymorgan3443]

My years as chef I had heard long ago that the doughnut hole, perhaps also a myth, had come into fashion during the Pony Express when riders would fly by on their horses while women tossed them baked goods to eat along the way. Many fell to the ground so these women would have a stick with sweet doughnuts on them and hold them out for the men on horses to swipe them off to put into a bag. I am sure it is just one of the many stories out there. I have heard many of the ones you shared today. Love your show. Thank you.

[@be6715]

Interesting that the WWI photos showed the donuts on sticks as well.

[@mwater_moon2865]

The Pony Express lasted a grand total of 18 months and didn't start until April 1860, nearly 20 years after the good sea captain supposedly smashed his on the ship's wheel or cut out the undone dough, and thus 70 years before the painting of a little girl holding a holely donut.

[@garymorgan3443]

@@mwater_moon2865 I was just mentioning it as one of the stories I had heard. Bunch of drunk chefs after work tell plenty of good tales. hahaha I pretty much thought is was a story, but it could have had some merit but probably not where the hole came from.

[@bgaesop]

Historical song point: "Istanbul, Not Constantinople" was first performed by The Four Lads. The They Might Be Giants version is a cover

[@GrizzAxxemann]

I'll be honest, I could have sworn Moxy Früvous did that cover. I had to go look it up. I was wrong, and I'm fine with that.

[@Firegen1]

It's fascinating how certain treats are sprinkled across history. On the hole I think the modern version is my jam.

[@generalhades4518]

in one shape or another, we have always had donuts as a species. we love sugar and carbs, so it's literally perfect! 10000 years from now, the humble donut shall still be eaten!

[@DIEGhostfish]

You belong in a cell for that post.

[@anonnieman]

at the beginning of the vid I was afraid that you would not mention the Dutch "oliebollen", even though the donut is a direct derivative. Glad you though. We tend to eat them mostly around new years eve nowadays and we always make them spherical without having difficulty cooking it all the way through or burning them, but maybe that's just Dutch oliebol superpowers. I was glad to learn from my girlfriend that in Italy they make "sfinge" which are very similar and are eaten around the day of Saint Joseph (19th of March) and we live in Germany where you can eat Berliner Krapfen which have many different names locally, all year round. I of course prefer oliebollen, but that might be my bias as I grew up with them. Another feasible explanation for the "nut" part could be that it is a name for biscuits (like in ginger nuts), which are "koeken" (the latter part of oliekoeken) in Dutch, where the American word cookie has its origins. Even now Dutch children often use the word koekies for biscuits.

[@stephanied7080]

My first generation late Italian grandmother made "Olly Bollys", a fried dough ball studded with apple chunks and raisins and tossed in powdered sugar. Always assumed this was of Italian origins with an anglicized name. Watched this video with my mother and we were pleasantly surprised to learn of the Dutch "oliebollen", especially as we've both attempted to find Olly Bolly recipes or references with little luck. I haven't had one of my grandma's Olly Bollys in ages but I can still bring to mind the smell of them frying and their taste, particularly the still warm apples. YUM!

[@anonnieman]

@@stephanied7080 that is cool, thanks for sharing the story! Any clue where she could of picked up the recipe? Did she live in the Netherlands for a while?

[@hugovandyk9918]

I'm from South Africa. There's a popular local dish called a "vet koek" which is a direct descendent of the Dutch dish. Literally "fat cake" it's a fried fermented dough cake, ideally made flat. My family is Afrikaans. Traditionally these are served with fruit jams or curried mince. These days there are specialty shops with a multitude of fillings. Interesting to see the basic idea of fried dough was popular the world over.

[@HauntedT]

Cooked sisters is a south african treat which is fried dough in a braid and just after frying is the dropped into a pre prepped pot of syrup mostly made from sugar, cinnamon etc, its important for it to go straight from frying to the pot of syrup since the heat causes the syrup to get SUCKED up into the dough.

[@heidi_mcheidiface]

I read an article on BBC today about a new museum in Rome that has old cooking implements and cookbooks. Right up Max's alley! They mentioned one of the dishes Scappi made for the pope--deep fried frog livers. Just a light snack!

[@chloesmith7871]

"krapfen" are still a thing btw xD it's what these jelly donuts are called in Bavaria, and they are sold around carnival or "fasching" season. They are called differently in other regions of Germany though. And for example near cologne there's something called "mutzemandeln", which is also translated as "doughnuts" - the "mandeln" part and the end of the word means "almonds", bc they are shaped like almonds. There's also something else called "mutzen" which seems to be similar to the donuts you made in this video. So we kinda have a lot of different types of donuts here in germany xD

[@gameboy-nq7je]

Oh yes, but be careful which name you call them by, cuz depending on the region they have different names and someone will get insulted, in some part they are still called Krapfen, in others Berliner (like the people living in Berlin) or Pfannkuchen (literally translates to pancakes, and in most parts the word also refers to pancakes tho pancakes are a whole different story) (There may be even more names that I don't know about)

[@chloesmith7871]

@@gameboy-nq7je I still find it super funny that it's not called "Berliner" in Berlin

[@steampour]

Doughnuts have a way of bringing people together... I never would have expected it of doughnuts! Maybe because they are best enjoyed with coffee, which also is a drink of camaraderie! This is the type of thing I explore in my coffee and tea episodes on my channel. How about going to have a look for yourself?? :) kzbin.info/door/wAAQg0fwlQs8zjJQBzaxGA . Thank you.

[@utej.k.bemsel4777]

Krapfen

[@KristofferBlix]

They're popular in Norway too. Mostly in "season" when the sun comes back after polar night or because of lent and carnival. We call them berliner buns, exclusively raspberry jam filling (no jelly).

[@stevemonkey6666]

When I was growing up there was a cake shop that made its own doughnuts in a doughnut machine. I still have a great desire for freshly made slightly warm doughnuts tossed in sugar

[@ladykoiwolfe]

I remember visiting a shop like that as a kid and getting to watch the donuts being made. Thanks for bringing back that memory.

[@Sparkle8205]

6:37 I love Krapfen! My mom buys them a lot whenever we go the local european import market since we're german and tend to cook a lot of german dishes (and love german foods haha)

[@PaganVegas]

Hey Max! It may have already been mentioned somewhere here - but as a fan of music history (as well as food), I'd like to point out that "Istanbul" was originally recorded by The Four Lads in 1953 with subsequent performances by several notable singers prior to the "They Might Be Giants" version. Bette Midler pretty much nailed it in 1976. Love your channel!

[@frauleintrude6347]

The diamond shaped without jam filling were still a thing during my childhood in Southern Germany. They were called Fasnetsküchle. My grandmother prepared them and I make them sometimes.

[@J_Gamble]

Were the Fasnetsküchle eaten on Fat Tuesday? It sounds like carnival food.

[@frauleintrude6347]

@@J_Gamble yes during carnival on Rose Monday and Fat Tuesday

[@J_Gamble]

@@frauleintrude6347 It would be fun to try all the different kinds of pre-Lenten fried cakes from all different countries.

[@michaelmanning5379]

I used to spell it "doughnoughts", reasoning that they were "noughts" (zeros) of dough. I was disabused of that notion some decades back but I still hanker to spell it that way. It is ironic that the original doughnut was what we would call a "doughnut hole" ("Timbit" 'round these parts), i.e., what we imagine is left over if doughnuts were cut like cookies.

[@YataTheFifteenth]

Ah yes, the popular warship of the early 20th century, Doughnoughts.

[@EastSider48215]

Those parts you live in - would that be Canada?

[@feministadentata4041]

@@YataTheFifteenth That joke is super underrated! Very witty ^^

[@HansLemurson]

Or troll people and spell them donoughts. :)

[@michaelmanning5379]

@@EastSider48215 Yep. Land of the Timbit!

[@mayyagrinberg302]

I’ve been coming here for every video for the magical combo of history/cookery/ video game references. Max never disappoints!

[@pathardage1880]

I just really enjoy watching your shows, Max. Thank you.

[@3xoticG4m3r]

6:40 the "Bauernkrapfen" is even better especially cause you can eat it as a sweet or as a meal with "Sauerkraut"

[@r3v4n21]

One of my favorite things to do at parties with people from different corners of germany is asking them what they call jelly donuts. "Krapfen" is mostly used in Bavaria, west germany calls them "Berliners" and east germany "Pfannkuchen", which also means Pancake in the west.

[@realhorrorshow8547]

Is it true that JFK's "Ich bin ein Berliner" translates as "I am a donut" - because Berliners would refer to themselves as Berliner without the ein?

[@SIC647]

@@realhorrorshow8547 Yes.

[@dragonwitch27]

The painting of the little girl is a work dating to 1767-70 by Francisco Bayeu y Subías, an important Spanish painter of the period. She is, in fact, holding a Spanish doughnut/pastry called a rosquilla, so you are correct! Rosquillas are popular around Easter.

[@gerryysmael2229]

Rosquillos, a ring like pastry, is still popular in at least one Philippine island.

[@reginaromsey]

Thank you for identifying the Artist and timeframe!

[@mariaesch489]

to me it actually looked as if the girl on the painting was holding a ring-shaped toy rather than a piece of pastry...

[@cheesesteak2795]

Thank you so much!

[@carloshenriquezimmer7543]

This exact recipe is made here in Brazil, under the name(rain cakes). Sprinkle with some sugar and cinnamon and wash them down with a bucket-sized cup of coffee... Perfect to a raining winter day...

[@Alpha-cv1ce]

Isso que eu achei. É tipo um bolinho de chuva.

[@FelicityUwU]

Saying "a raining winter day" seems so weird to me. As a Canadian, when it starts to rain instead of snow, that means it's not winter anymore.

[@joellynshort3949]

Fascinating! Especially the Dutch connection. I make my great-grandfather’s recipe for donuts once a year for my kids and now grandkids. His recipe uses baking powder instead of yeast, fried in lard. Just so happens he was of Dutch descent - from the Cronkhite family who emigrated to New Amsterdam in 1635. 🧐 He is said to have made them for himself every morning. 😳 He lived into his 90’s, thin and healthy. 😂

[@rhondajhunter9091]

In the 1960's, there was a group in Amherst, Ohio, that held an outdoor market twice a week. One of the attractions was one of these ancient, but still working, donut machines. It fascinated people, who would stand and watch it produce endless batches of donuts,. They also bought them as fast as it made them, so there was a constant line of people waiting for their donuts. This was a small version of the one mentioned in the video, only producing 12 donuts at a time.

[@michelguevara151]

I've seen an original adolf levitt donut machine still in use in brighton england on the remaining pier in the early 2000s. I've allways wondered who designed it, thanks max!

[@ciaheadmechanic0809]

After years of frying doughnuts and the holes per my wife’s family’s tradition, I will note that the holes are notoriously difficult to cook very evenly since one side inevitably ends up more buoyant than the other. The doughnuts with holes are flat but a shape still conducive to even cooking (having consistent thickness and no corners) and much easier to flip.

[@johnloveday8043]

The county fair of my hometown had one of the automatic donut makers on display making donuts for the fair, and I remember watching it as a little kid do its job and I thought it was the most awesome thing I had ever seen

[@zore5220]

4:29 its 1to1 like a German dessert Called "Puefferkes" its local in my area Niederrhein)

[@DomyTheMad420]

the best part about these videos how when you're part through one you may or may not be launched on 1 of 2 journeys: - oh my god i have recipe questions/ideas i have to google some things! - oh my god that history is so fascinating i have to google some things! or both! :D which may have not just happened to me and i just added some stuff to my next shopping list

[@valasafantastic1055]

Nothing before has ever made me desire donuts more ravenously than this video. I’m going to look up a recipe now as I’m not going shopping until Thursday. Very fun and informative video thanks.

[@CheesybiscuitStudios]

In the Netherlands we eat something similar on New Years Eve called "oliebollen" which translates to "oil balls". They are usually topped with icing sugar, sometimes raisins are added and rarely they are stuffed with custard or almond spice.

[@eburel506]

Those sound amazing

[@lenabreijer1311]

Yes my grandmother made those too. And they were never raw in the middle, that problem kind of boggles the mind, what kind of cooks were they that they couldn't get the centre done?

[@commisaryarreck3974]

@@lenabreijer1311 >Americans Makes sense non?

[@jaspervanheycop9722]

@@lenabreijer1311 The dough Max made seems much heavier than most modern doughs, his didn't puff as much, and had a much tighter crumb. I imagine that screws with the cooking time. There's also less sugar in oliebollen, so they don't caramelise as fast.

[@markstyles1246]

Oliebollen... I worked security while in school, paid me to do homework for most of shift usually. One year I did three or four nights of security at the FolkFest Dutch pavillion. They were like, "Here's the tubs of oliebollen, have what you'd like and make sure to grab breakfast, too!" They'd make them all day for sale, staff, giveaways, and demos and Rubbermaid dozens of them for the next day. I'm not sure how many I ate but I got the most out if that perk!

[@rogerpanciera1123]

Are you kidding me? I made doughnuts for the first time ever last weekend, with my severely limited baking knowledge. Had a really hard time finding a decent recipe to follow and, behold! A doughnut video merely hours after my struggle. The doughnuts actually came out decent, but it would have been easier with the video around!

[@jasmijntree]

Dutchie here, it was so much fun to hear you mention the Netherlands! Not a lot of our 'cuisine' is something i'd recommand to people, oliebollen being one of the few exceptions. Like someone mentioned earlier, oliebollen have become a staple for new years eve, other then that people really only eat them at festivals. As always really enjoyed your video!

[@Rhiusvell]

In regards to Oliebollen; It's depending on the mixture and temperature. As the ones you get at fairs/Travelling Carnivals here, are done by professionals or people that generally have an idea. My mom can't get the batter right so hers are always goo-y on the inside or at least semi-cooked.

[@agataborkowska-clark584]

Having grown up with jam-filled (Polish) doughnuts, I was SO disappointed when I moved to the UK and discovered that some countries replace the rosy marmalady goodness with void! My grandmother still makes the doughnuts in almost the same way as this recipe describes, also frying them in lard (though now lard and oil mixture is more common). And in Poland, you still get them in two varieties: 2in/5cm balls with no filling or 4 in/10cm balls filled with jam, marmalade, toffee, or advocaat. The 'donuts' with a hole are marketed as American and popular only as a novelty.

[@emiliaolivieri]

I looooove your videos!!! Here in Brazil the tradicional sweet fried dough is much quicker to make, it's called "Bolinho de Chuva" - means little cake of the rain bc it looks like rain drops. You mix 2 eggs, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 cup of warm/not cold milk, 2 1/2 cup of flour and 1 spoon of baking powder. Fry it immediately in hot oil using two spoons, with one you scoop a little dough, and use the other to drop the dough into the oil. The oil must be hot but you will have to turn the heat down a little 15 sec after droping them in the oil, sø it cooks inside. When they are golden, place them in paper towel and while they are still hot, coat them in cinnamon and sugar. The old wives tale says you should only make this sweet if it's raining, if it's not, it won't teste good. Not true, but...

[@danilolimadossantos1]

Also, if you fill it with Guyava Jam, Chocolate cream or 'doce de leite' cream, it's a 'Sonho' ("Dream")

[@jeanfalconer6377]

I did always wonder how they soaked up fat before paper towels, so the bread tip is really neat! Sometimes I wish a few of the variations/incarnations would make a comeback. Those oil cakes remind me of Koeksisters.

[@lipstickzombie4981]

Isn't Koeksisters dredged in dessicated coconut or is it a bastardized version in South Africa? A South African coworker makes tons of those during Ramadan in my workplace.

[@jeanfalconer6377]

@@lipstickzombie4981 Personally, I've never had desiccated coconut with them but that sounds like a fun touch.

[@katarh]

I was just thinking that the bread trick is also less wasteful. Because now you have bread soaked with fat, and it'll toast up marvelously for another meal. Is that how they made trenchers in the days before plates as well, I wonder?

[@JWRogersPS]

Soaking up fat is a good use of stale bread.

[@purplealice]

A lot of older cookbooks call for draining fried foods on brown paper, or even on kitchen towels or flour-sacking.

[@Flippokid]

As a Dutch I'm really fond of oliebollen. But I do have one gripe: we only eat them between Christmas and New Years' Eve! And when you make them in the middle of the summer, people want to burn you at the stakes! Well, maybe that's a bit hyperbolic, but they do start singing Mariah Carey immediately. Believe me, I've been there.

[@joycealdrich]

My Grandfather would tell me, "Don't eat the hole in the doughnut!" I'd eat all around it! LOL My grandmother made doughnuts, and told me, when she was a girl, her family made dozens of these to help celebrate New Years, in Quebec. Reveillons were the thing, where people visited from house to house. The doughnuts at my grandmother's house were stored in pillow cases, in the cold shed, where they would stay frozen, until they were thawed out., to serve. She loved eating the frozen doughnuts, though.

[@lilumartini]

Really learned something new today! :D. Didn't know that oliebollen had a history (oliekoeken). Now its more like a Christmas/new year treat. We get them with or without raisins and with powdered suger on top

[@PLuMUK54]

Here in Britain doughnuts are more likely to be hole-less, round, but slightly flattened. Inside they will have quite a sharp raspberry jam, or sometimes custard, or my favourite, apple sauce. Ring doughnuts are less common, and although there have been American imports, such as Krispy Kreme, they are less popular, and several shops seem to have stopped stocking them, or only sell limited quantities. Another popular doighnut in Britain are torpedo shaped, sliced full length, and filled with cream or custard, often with jam, sometimes apple sauce.

[@TwoToTheSix]

I do love an apple doughnut! Not sure that ring doughnuts are ‘less popular’, though - Krispy Kreme reported strong sales growth in the UK last year, and there’s any number of artisanal places selling fancy ring doughnuts around. A good thing too, since a vanilla glazed ring doughnut is also a wonderful thing

[@hanknichols6865]

I remember 50 years ago bread was used to soak up the excess oil from fried bacon and sausages in the Army chow hall serving line.

[@merlinsgirl9311]

There's a place on LBI, NJ that had a conveyer belt donut system, google says it's Marvel's Bakery, but I distinctly remember it being a combo donut and ice cream shop within four blocks of the Skipper Dipper on the ocean side and Marvel's Bakery is not an ice cream shop, not on the main drag, not within 4 blocks of the Skipper Dipper, and on the bay side. Sadly, it was probably put out of business by Hurricane Sandy or the pandemic. Still, it was fun to get up at 6am and walk down to see the donuts made and buy a small bag of them.

[@Azaghal1988]

Here in germany we have a very similar thing, called (depending where you are) Kreppel(in parts of the rhineland), Krapfen(most of the south), Pfannkuchen(in berlin) or Berliner(in most of western germany) They're basically donuts without the hole and filled with jam (mostly raspberry). They're a typical food for the Carnival-season before lent.

[@b.a.erlebacher1139]

When JFK visited Berlin, he wanted to express solidarity with the people of the city, so beleagured by the Cold War, so he made his famous speech that included the immortal phrase "Ich bin ein Berliner", not realizing that this translates to "I am a jelly donut!"

[@baumgrt]

They have a short appearance at 6:39. Down south in Switzerland we have them as well, although they’re exclusively called Berliner here (or boule de Berlin in French, i.e. Berlin balls)

[@b.a.erlebacher1139]

@@verycreativ233 yeah, I know. But it was a popular joke at the time!

[@AD_AP_T]

After working for a short while in Dresden and Berlin, and learning that those filled treats were called Pfannkuchen, I had a group of Frankfurters insist I'd imagined it, that they've never been referred to as anything other than Kreppel or Krapfen, and Pfannkuchen are, and have only ever been, the same as English pancakes. So, thank you for the validation...!

[@Rocketsong]

@@verycreativ233 Yeah, but if I wanted to say "I am a Berliner", or "I am of Berlin" I would say "Ich bin Berliner" without the article. Everyone clearly knew what JFK meant though.

[@Yora21]

"The doughnut hole, as we call it today, predates the doughnut. So in a way, this is all is an allegory for the human condition. We have in our centers an emptiness, and we decided to give that a name. And we pretended like it's a leftover thing. It's unimportant. When in reality our very name, our very existence, comes from that emptiness we no longer have." - Michael Stevens, "Squaring a Doughnut", 2019

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

Really ties in with that quote from Adolph Levitt, "Keep your eye upon the donut, not upon the hole."

[@t.vanoosterhout233]

Immediately when you described the contents of those doughnuts I thought "oliebollen!". But reading through the comments I realise that they are really an old type of European farmers food, to be prepared and eaten in winter when no fresh food was available.

[@judiannereppucci5659]

Don't know if it's still there but during the mid-60's when we vacationed at Weirs Beach in NH, there was a Levitt donut machine that was fascinating to watch. The dough with holes went into the hot oil, floated down a river of oil, being flipped halfway down, went up a chain ramp to drain and Bingo! fresh hot donuts! SOOOOO good!

[@reaper_exd7498]

I was always taught that doughnuts, with the hole in the center, emerged as an invention to feed pony express riders between shorter rides. Pony express riders were supposedly known o just ride through town quickly. Droppin off their satchel for the town on a hook, picking up another satchel, and such. So as an inventive solution to feeding them without stopping the donut was made so they could draw their pistol and hook the donut through the center. From here on the rider would quickly eat the doughnuts best they could. It made sense to me cuz you can ride a horse one handed at speed but with no hands, not a chance for long distances.