Why it works: Milk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and 78,219 recipes mention both. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Miss Heywood, Mass
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Beat the whites and yolks of four eggs separately.
Whisk one pint of milk into the beaten eggs.
Stir in two cups of flour and one teaspoonful of salt.
Roast
Three-quarters of an hour before the meat is done, mix and pour the mixture into the roasting pan.
Set the meat upon a grate, or on sticks placed across the pan.
If there is not enough fat from the meat to prevent burning, add a bit of butter.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and flour share little aroma chemistry, yet 78,219 recipes mention both: they likely 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
- Eggs
- Beaten eggs help bind the mixture and set it as it cooks.
- Flour
- Flour thickens the mixture and gives it body and structure.
- Milk
- Milk adds liquid and richness, keeping the mixture moist as it cooks.
The step that matters
Keep enough fat in the pan. Fat from the meat coats the pan and keeps the mixture from scorching. Without enough fat, the batter can burn on the bottom, so a little butter is added to prevent this.
“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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