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 ↓
Butter Crackers
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the dough
Rub the Cottolene into the flour, or cut it up with a knife.
Add the salt, milk, and baking soda, mixing well.
Work the mixture into a ball, turning and shifting it often.
Shape and bake
Roll into an even sheet about ½ inch thick, and prick deeply with a fork.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).
Dry
Hang them up in a muslin bag in the kitchen for two days to dry.
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).
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
- Forms the main structure of the dough once it is mixed with liquid.
- Cottolene
- Adds fat that shortens the dough, giving it a tender, crisp texture.
- Sweet milk
- Supplies the liquid that hydrates the flour and helps bind the dough.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the dough to help it rise and brown during baking.
The step that matters
Prick deeply with a fork before baking. Pricking lets steam escape from the thin sheet so it bakes flat and crisp rather than blistering or puffing unevenly.
“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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