Name: Baking Powder Biscuit II
Ingredients: 1 quart sifted flour; 2 tablespoons lard or butter; ½ teaspoon salt; 3 teaspoons baking powder; milk (enough to form a very soft dough)

Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Baking Powder Biscuit II

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

1 quart sifted flour
2 tablespoons lard or butter
½ teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
milk (enough to form a very soft dough)

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Mix the flour, lard or butter, salt, and baking powder together.
Add enough milk to form a very soft dough.

Shape and bake

Knead the dough as little as possible.
Roll out the dough quickly.
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C).

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 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

What each ingredient does

Flour: Provides the structure that holds the biscuit together as it bakes.
Lard or butter: Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and keeps the biscuit flaky.
Baking powder: Releases gas in the dough, helping the biscuit rise in the oven.
Milk: Hydrates the flour so the dough forms and adds moisture to the crumb.