Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Superior Muffins
Ingredients
Directions
In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, and sugar.
Rub in the butter and lard mixture along with the mashed potato.
Add the beaten eggs and yeast, mixing well.
Gradually add warm or cold water to form a soft dough.
Knead the dough for 30 minutes.
Let it rise in a warm place (milk-warm in winter, cool in summer).
For a winter breakfast at 8 a.m., prepare the dough at 8 p.m. the night before.
At 6 a.m., shape the dough into round balls without kneading again.
Drop the balls into well-greased snow-ball molds.
Grease your hands and smooth the tops of the muffins.
Let them rise in a warm place for 2 hours before baking.
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.
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.
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + potatotop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Flour + potatotop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,355 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, butter, egg):
- Chivefits better
- Leekfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, butter, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
More muffins recipes
You might also like
Deep-Fried Potato Balls119 recipes
Orange Potato Bread80 recipes
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.