Name: Schmidt Test Diet
Ingredients: 2 cups milk or 2 cups cocoa (made from 2 tablespoons cocoa powder and 2 tablespoons sugar); 1 cup oatmeal; 2 tablespoons butter; 1 cup milk; 1 ¼ cups water; 1 egg; 4 oz. chopped beef; 2 tablespoons butter; 1 cup potato broth (made from 1 cup mashed potatoes, ⅓ cup milk, and 2 teaspoons butter)

Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓

Schmidt Test Diet

Ingredients

2 cups milk or 2 cups cocoa (made from 2 tablespoons cocoa powder and 2 tablespoons sugar)
1 cup oatmeal
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup milk
1 ¼ cups water
1 egg
4 oz. chopped beef
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup potato broth (made from 1 cup mashed potatoes, ⅓ cup milk, and 2 teaspoons butter)

Directions

Morning and forenoon

In the morning, drink 2 cups of milk or cocoa prepared with cocoa powder and sugar.
For forenoon, make oatmeal gruel with oatmeal, butter, milk, and water, then add a strained egg.

Noon

At noon, broil 4 oz. of chopped beef rare with 2 tablespoons of butter.
Add 1 cup of potato broth to the beef.

Afternoon and evening

Repeat the morning and forenoon meals in the afternoon and evening.

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.

Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,052 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Milk + potatotop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,611 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
Milk + beeftop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,759 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
Butter + potatotop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,456 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Oatmeal: Thickens the water and milk into a soft gruel with body.
Egg: Adds richness and, when strained into hot gruel, gives a smoother, slightly thickened texture.
Beef: Provides protein that firms as it cooks, so rare doneness keeps it tender.
Butter: Adds fat for richness and carries flavor in both the gruel and the beef.
Milk: Adds moisture and dairy proteins that give a creamy texture to the gruel and drink.

The step that matters

Broil the beef rare. Beef past rare becomes firmer and drier as muscle proteins tighten and squeeze out moisture. A short broil, checked closely, keeps the chopped beef tender and juicy.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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Schmidt Test Diet