Name: Aunt Sarah Puntney's Dumplings
Ingredients: one quart bread crumbs; one quart sour milk; one teaspoon baking soda; one teaspoon salt; half teaspoon pepper; five eggs

Why it works: Bread and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,466 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓

Aunt Sarah Puntney's Dumplings

Ingredients

Directions

Mix the batter

Mix bread crumbs, sour milk, baking soda, salt, pepper, and eggs, well beaten.
Pour mixture into a buttered pan.

Bake

Bake separately from fowl or meat.
Baste often with broth.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

688Calories

28 gProtein

15 gFat

109 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 5 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Sour Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
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.

By United Methodist Church (Grayville, Ill.). 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. 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.

Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,466 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,964 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together88,785 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk + peppertop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together26,984 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

What each ingredient does

Bread crumbs: Provides the bulk and body that holds the dumplings together.
Sour milk: Adds moisture and acidity, which reacts with the baking soda.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acid in sour milk to release gas that lightens the mixture.
Eggs: Bind the mixture and set as they cook, giving structure.

The step that matters

Mix the baking soda evenly into the sour milk. Baking soda needs an acid to react and release carbon dioxide. If it is not evenly mixed, some spots rise and others stay dense or taste bitter.

“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.

Brown Bread461 recipes

White Bread80 recipes

Bread Omelette60 recipes

Oatmeal Bread51 recipes

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Aunt Sarah Puntney's Dumplings