Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Cornish Biscuits
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
In a bowl, combine one quart flour, two teaspoons baking powder, one teaspoon salt, one-half cup sugar, one large tablespoon butter, two beaten eggs, caraway seeds, one cup floured raisins, one cup currants, and enough milk to make the dough soft enough to handle.
Shape and bake
Pat the dough out on a floured board into a sheet.
Cut with a small biscuit cutter.
Bake quickly.
When almost done, butter the tops.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Grape | 1/2 cup (76g) | 62 |
| 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.
-
Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,180 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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
- Forms the main structure that holds the biscuits together as they bake.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking, helping the biscuits rise and become light.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, binding the dough and adding softness to the crumb.
- Butter
- Adds fat, which tenderizes the crumb and gives a richer flavor.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the tops brown during baking.
- Currants
- Add sweetness and chewy pockets of fruit throughout the biscuits.
The step that matters
Bake quickly. Baking powder releases gas as soon as it is heated, so a quick, hot bake lets the biscuits rise and set their structure before the gas escapes. A slow bake can leave them flat and dense.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, raisin, butter, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, raisin, butter, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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