Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓
Chocolate Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the paste
Put half a pound of nice brown sugar into a quart of flour and sift the flour.
Make it into a paste with four ounces of butter melted in as much milk as will wet it.
Knead it till light.
Roll it tolerably thin.
Cut it into strips an inch wide and just long enough to lay in a plate.
Bake them on a griddle.
Put them in the plate in rows to checker each other.
Serve them to eat with chocolate.
Make the batter and wafers
Beat six eggs.
Add a pint of flour.
Add two ounces of melted butter.
Add as much milk as will make a thin batter.
Put in pounded loaf sugar to your taste.
Pour it into the wafer irons.
Bake them quickly without browning.
Roll them while hot.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 5 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 |
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 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
- Eggs
- Beaten eggs bind the batter and help give the wafers structure as they set.
- Flour
- Forms the body of the paste and batter, giving structure as the gluten sets.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and a richer mouthfeel.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the surface brown.
- Milk
- Adds moisture so the paste can be worked and the batter can thin to pouring consistency.
The step that matters
Bake them quickly without browning.. Thin batter with sugar darkens fast at high heat. Baking briefly keeps the wafers pale and crisp, while longer baking browns the sugar and makes them bitter and brittle.
“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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