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 ↓
Soup Sticks
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
In a bowl, combine 1/2 cup yeast, 1 cup warm water, 1 heaping tablespoon of scalded milk, 1 heaping tablespoon of scalded milk of butter, 2 teaspoonful of salt and sugar, and flour to form a stiff dough.
Add beaten egg white and knead long and vigorously.
Let the dough rise in a warm place until light, then knead it down in the bowl.
Shape and bake
Take out pieces as large as an egg, roll each into a ball, then into long strips about nine inches long and three-fourths of an inch thick.
Place the strips a distance apart on a baking tin so they do not touch.
Let them rise and bake slowly until nearly all crust; if they dry thoroughly before baking they will be crisp and brittle.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 6 of 8 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Cake | not in our table | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 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).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour 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 stiff dough structure that holds the sticks together.
- Yeast
- Produces gas that makes the dough rise and light.
- Egg white
- Adds protein that helps structure the dough and gives a firmer crumb.
- Butter
- Adds fat that softens the crumb and gives a tender texture.
The step that matters
Drying the shaped strips before baking. Letting the shaped strips dry thoroughly before baking drives off surface moisture, which is what makes the finished sticks crisp and brittle rather than soft.
“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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