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 ↓
Egg Biscuit
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
Sift together a quart of dry flour and three heaping teaspoonfuls of baking powder.
Rub into this thoroughly a piece of butter the size of an egg.
Add two well-beaten eggs, a tablespoonful of sugar, and a teaspoonful of salt.
Mix all together quickly into a soft dough, with one cup of milk, or more if needed.
Shape and bake
Roll out nearly half an inch thick.
Cut into biscuits.
Bake immediately in a quick oven for fifteen to twenty minutes.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
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 |
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).
-
Flour + buttertop 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).
-
Flour + sugartop 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).
Flour and butter 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
- Bind the dough and add richness and structure to the crumb.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas that makes the biscuits rise and turn light.
- Butter
- Rubbed into the flour to add tenderness and richness.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour so the dough comes together and bakes moist.
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the biscuits as gluten and starch set in the oven.
The step that matters
Bake immediately. Once the dough is mixed, baking powder starts releasing gas right away. Baking without delay in a hot oven sets the structure while the gas is still expanding, so the biscuits rise well.
“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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