Why it works: Milk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and 88,465 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Also mentioned in the method: wheat, flour
Directions
Make the batter
To half a pint of milk put two well-beaten eggs, and as much wheat flour as will make a smooth, rather thick batter free from lumps.
Drop this batter, a tablespoonful at a time, into boiling soup.
Cook in the soup
One cupful of sour cream and one cupful of sour milk, three eggs, well beaten, whites and yolks separately; one teaspoonful of salt, one level teaspoonful of soda, dissolved in a spoonful of water, and enough flour added to make a very stiff batter.
Drop the batter by spoonfuls into the broth and boil twenty minutes, or until no raw dough shows on the outside.
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 + eggtop 9% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together88,465 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Cream + milktop 9% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together29,395 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cream + eggtop 12% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together41,958 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as they set during boiling.
- Wheat flour (in the method)
- Provides the starch and gluten that give the dumplings body and structure.
- Sour cream
- Adds moisture, richness and tang to the stiff batter.
- Sour milk
- Adds acidity that reacts with soda and keeps the dumplings tender.
- Soda
- Reacts with the sour milk and cream acid to help the dumplings rise and lighten.
The step that matters
Drop the batter by spoonfuls into the broth and boil twenty minutes. The dumplings must cook through in simmering liquid; boiling too briefly leaves raw dough in the centre, while the soup should be kept at a steady boil so the batter sets rather than dissolving into the broth.
“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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