Shashlik and Donuts Are Better Together

Sweet and salty is a combination that we at Skillet love to tinker with. I like to think that among the five tastes – sweet, salty, bitter, sour and umami – there are no combinations that are truly forbidden. No, it’s not enough for us to sprinkle cookies with salt ( do not shade from salt ). We enjoy maple-syrup-soaked bacon, eggs, and cheeses , and drip honey on unsuspecting savory dishes . Today we’re adding another sweet and savory power pair to the list: Eat BBQ with donuts.

Donuts are great bread for sandwiches . It is a yeast carbohydrate made from a simple enriched dough. Objectively, a hamburger bun is just one shiny coating of icing separating it from a donut. Of course, frosting is everything, in a good way. Smoked, salted, fatty kebab also bridges this gap between sweet and savory on its own terms. Barbecue sauce has a sweet flavor, dry rubs almost always contain at least one type of sugar, and even wood chip smoke has a sweet flavor. Sweet meat goes with sweet bread, without further ado.

I’m not suggesting you take a dozen Boston cream as a BBQ donut or anything with a lot of accompanying flavors, sprinkles, or cream accessories. Stick to plain frosting, kruler, donut sticks, and the like. They don’t even have to be good donuts. Grilled meat has the protagonist’s energy, so if your brisket, pulled pork, or fried ends are good quality, they will benefit from the donut’s flavor and also have the weird effect of actually raising the donut’s quality.

I had a substandard Krispy Kreme donut and Mighty Quinn’s excellent spicy, sweet, savory BBQ. At first I thought this combination would work best in sandwich form, so I cut the donut in half as shown. It was incredible, like a sandwich. I only took one bite of a donut and it disappointed me. With meat it was a real delight. The donut was airy and soaked in sauce, and was tender but held together. Its soft and sweet glaze meets my tongue first, quickly followed by bold barbecue flavors. I could even catch the fried taste of the doughnut and its yeasty taste went well with the meat.

Next time I probably won’t eat it as a sandwich. It may be “my thing,” but I often prefer to tear off a piece of bread and shovel stuffing over it, as if it were a small raft with a one-way ticket in my stomach. This way I get more meat with every bite, so I’ll probably enjoy donut BBQ more than a BBQ donut sandwich.

The only downside I can predict is if you eat too spicy BBQ or like to baste meat with caroline vinegar based sauce. The donut will try its best, but I doubt it will hold up to the liquid. If perhaps you don’t try the cake donut. In my opinion, this is a fair game and worth a try. I have not tried the following alternative flavors myself, but I would support your efforts. If you’re up for an adventure, I’d venture a guess that apple fritters, sour cream donuts, or maple glazes with loads of sweet and tangy BBQ might be the godsend of the year.