Why it works: Milk and wheat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,418 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓
Egg Rolls
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the dough
Boil the milk with the butter, lard, and salt.
Beat the eggs and pour the boiling milk over them, stirring constantly.
When the mixture is nearly cold, add the yeast and enough flour to make a thick batter.
Knead the batter until light, then let it rise before shaping.
Bake
Grease the pans and bake in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C).
Before baking, rub a little sugar and water on the rolls for a glossy finish.
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 + wheattop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,418 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,373 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + wheattop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,002 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter and flour 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
- Add richness and structure to the dough as they set with the hot milk.
- Yeast
- Produces gas that makes the dough rise and become light.
- Wheat flour
- Forms the gluten network that gives the batter its body and structure.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavour.
- Lard
- Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and keeps it soft.
The step that matters
Pouring the boiling milk over the eggs. Stirring constantly keeps the eggs from scrambling in the hot milk, so the mixture stays smooth and evenly blended before the yeast is added.
“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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