Name: Rye Muffins
Ingredients: 2 cups rye meal; 1 cup all-purpose flour; ½ cup molasses; ½ cup yeast; Salt to taste; Warm water to make a batter

Why it works: Rye and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,320 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Rye Muffins

Ingredients

Directions

In a bowl, combine rye meal, flour, molasses, yeast, and salt.
Add warm water until the mixture is about as thick as soft gingerbread.
Cover and let it rise overnight.
In the morning, dissolve 1 teaspoon of baking soda in a little water and stir it into the batter.
Pour the batter into small pans or muffin rings.
Let them stand for 15 to 20 minutes before baking.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Rye + flourtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,320 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,429 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Rye + molassestop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together804 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).