Why it works: Raisin and flour 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 ↓
Oatmeal Drop Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Mix oats, flour, soda, and salt together, dry.
Melt butter and cream with sugar.
Make the batter
Beat in the eggs.
Stir in sour milk, then chopped raisins.
Bake
Drop onto buttered pans and bake slowly.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 8 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Oat | 1/2 cup dry (40g) | 154 |
| Sour Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Grape | 1/2 cup (76g) | 62 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Cinnamon | 1 tsp ground (2.6g) | 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.
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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Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
-
Cinnamon + oatstop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,394 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
-
Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the cakes together as they bake.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set.
- Soda
- Reacts with the acid in sour milk to produce gas that lifts the cakes.
- Sour milk
- Supplies acidity that activates the soda and adds moisture and tenderness.
- Oats
- Add a chewy, hearty texture and absorb moisture in the batter.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the cakes brown and stay moist.
The step that matters
Stir in sour milk, then chopped raisins.. The soda needs the acid in sour milk to react and leaven the batter, so it should be added promptly and not left to sit. Once the flour is added, overmixing develops gluten and makes the cakes tough, so stir only until combined.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, milk, cinnamon, flour, oats, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinthe original
- Blueberryfits less well
- Figfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, cinnamon, flour, oats, 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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