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 ↓
Drop Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the batter
In a large bowl, combine sweet milk, flour, salt, and baking powder.
Melt the lard and add it to the mixture, then beat until well combined.
Bake and serve
Drop spoonfuls of the batter onto an ungreased iron pan, spacing them apart.
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until golden.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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).
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
- Flour
- Forms the structure that holds the cakes together as they bake.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, causing the cakes to rise and become light.
- Lard
- Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and contributes to a moist texture.
- Sweet milk
- Hydrates the flour and forms the batter's liquid base, adding richness.
The step that matters
Drop the batter spoonfuls apart. Spacing the batter lets heat reach every side of each cake so they bake evenly. Crowding them can cause the cakes to merge and bake 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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