Why it works: Milk and flour 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 ↓
Graham Gems
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) and grease the gem pans.
Make the batter
In a bowl, combine the beaten egg with the sour milk.
Add the brown sugar and salt, then mix in the baking soda with the Graham flour.
Stir in the melted lard and mix until you have a stiff batter that will drop from a spoon.
Bake
Fill the hot gem pans and bake for 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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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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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and flour 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
- Sour milk
- Reacts with the baking soda to lift the batter and adds a slight tang.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the sour milk to produce gas that makes the gems rise.
- Graham flour
- Provides the bulk and structure of the batter, along with its nutty, wholesome flavour.
- Beaten egg
- Binds the batter and adds structure and richness as it sets in the oven.
- Melted lard
- Adds fat for tenderness and helps the gems brown and separate from the pan.
The step that matters
Fill the hot gem pans. Baking soda starts reacting as soon as it meets the sour milk, so the batter should go into already-hot pans promptly. A hot pan sets the outside quickly and helps the gems rise well instead of spreading or falling flat.
“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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