Why it works: Flour and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Pop-overs
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Mix salt and flour together.
Add half the milk and beat until smooth.
Incorporate the remaining milk, well-beaten eggs, and shortening. Beat for 2 minutes with an egg beater.
Bake
Turn the mixture into a hot greased pan.
Bake at 450°F (230°C) for 20 minutes until they pop.
Reduce the temperature to 350°F (175°C) and bake for an additional 15 minutes.
Do not open the oven door for the first 15 minutes.
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.
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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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Provides the structure that holds the expanding batter walls together as they bake.
- Eggs
- Set during baking to give the popovers their hollow, rigid shell and lift.
- Milk
- Supplies the liquid that turns to steam in the hot pan, driving the rise.
- Shortening
- Adds fat that tenderizes the batter and helps it release from the pan.
The step that matters
Keep the oven door closed for the first 15 minutes. Opening the door drops the oven temperature and releases the steam that is inflating the batter. Without that steam and heat, the popovers can collapse before their walls set.
“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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