Name: Two Cups of Sour Milk
Ingredients: 2 cups graham flour; ½ cup brown sugar; ¼ teaspoon salt; 2 cups wheat flour; 1 teaspoon cream of tartar; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 2 cups sour milk; optional: 2 tablespoons sour cream; butter for greasing

Why it works: Wheat and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,418 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓

Two Cups of Sour Milk

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

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 the dry ingredients

Sift the graham flour with brown sugar and salt.
Sift the wheat flour with cream of tartar and baking soda.
Mix all flours together, then gradually stir in the sour milk.

Finish the batter and pan

If using, add sour cream and stir well for 4-5 minutes.
Preheat a grease roll pan on the stove, greasing it well with butter.

Bake

Fill the pan and bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until done.

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.

Wheat + milktop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,418 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Flour + wheattop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,373 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Graham flour: Gives the cake a coarse, nutty texture and a brown color.
Wheat flour: Provides the main structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Sour milk: Adds moisture and its acidity reacts with the leavening to help the cake rise.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acidic sour milk to produce gas that makes the cake rise.
Cream of tartar: Adds acidity that works with the baking soda to leaven the batter and balance flavor.
Brown sugar: Adds sweetness, moisture and a caramel flavor that deepens browning.

The step that matters

Gradually stir in the sour milk. Adding the liquid slowly and mixing gently keeps the batter evenly hydrated and prevents lumps, while avoiding overmixing, which would toughen the crumb. The acid-base reaction starts once liquid meets the leavening, so the batter should be baked promptly.

“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.

Wheat Muffins48 recipes

Whole Wheat Muffins12 recipes

White Cake431 recipes

Pound Cake373 recipes

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Two Cups of Sour Milk