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 ↓
Green Mountain Biscuits
Ingredients
Directions
Make the first sponge
Combine three cups milk, two cups sugar, and one cup butter.
Add two tablespoons yeast, one-half the sugar, and one-half the butter melted to make a stiff batter at night.
In the morning, add the remaining half of sugar and butter, and make it not quite as stiff as yeast bread.
Two hours before tea, make up the biscuits and set them to rise.
Add the potato mixture
Boil two large white potatoes, mash them, and pour boiling water over until the consistency is that of gruel.
Add one tablespoon of sugar and one teacup full of yeast when sufficiently cool.
Set aside to rise.
When light, heat one pint of milk until warm enough to melt two tablespoons of butter.
Add salt and enough flour to make a thick batter.
Shape and bake
Set to rise; when light, work for twenty minutes.
Set to rise again, then roll out thin and spread melted butter everywhere.
Cut out with a tumbler and lay one-half over the other, prick in several places, and set to rise.
Bake for twenty minutes.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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. See the original page.
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.
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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 (in the method)
- Gluten in the flour forms the structure that holds the risen dough together.
- Yeast
- Yeast produces gas that makes the dough rise and become light.
- Butter
- Butter adds fat that makes the biscuits tender and rich in flavor.
- Sugar
- Sugar sweetens the biscuits and feeds the yeast during rising.
- Milk
- Milk hydrates the dough and adds richness and softness.
- Potatoes (in the method)
- Mashed potato adds moisture and starch that keep the dough soft.
The step that matters
Letting the dough rise until light before shaping. Yeast gas is trapped by the gluten network, so under-risen dough bakes dense while over-risen dough can collapse and turn sour and flat.
“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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