Why it works: Flour and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Cream Paste
Ingredients
Directions
In a bowl, combine 1 pint of sour cream, buttermilk, or sour milk with 1 pint of flour.
Stir in 1 teaspoon of baking soda.
Add more flour until the mixture forms a stiff dough that can be rolled out.
Finally, mix in 1 tablespoon of salt and the beaten egg yolk if using.
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 + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cream + flourtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
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Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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 cream, buttermilk, or sour milk
- Provides acidity and moisture that hydrate the flour and form the dough.
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the structure of the dough once hydrated and worked into a stiff mass.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the dairy to produce gas that lightens the dough.
- Egg yolk
- Adds richness and fat, softening texture and aiding browning.
The step that matters
Adding flour until the dough is stiff. The dough must stop being sticky before rolling. Too little flour leaves it slack and hard to shape, while too much makes it dry and tough. Add flour gradually and judge by feel.
“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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