Why it works: Sugar and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
Savoy Biscuits
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 batter
Beat the yolks of 12 eggs very well, gradually adding 1 lb of sugar until creamy.
Whip the egg whites until solid and frothy, then fold them into the yolk mixture.
Gradually add ½ lb of flour to the mixture.
Shape and bake
Spoon 2 tablespoons of the dough into long, greased tins or pieces of paper pinned together.
Sprinkle sugar over the top just before baking.
Bake in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C) for 8 minutes.
When cooked, lay the biscuits back to back as they come out of the oven.
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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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg and flour 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
- Egg yolks
- Beaten with sugar to form a creamy base that gives richness and structure.
- Egg whites
- Whipped and folded in to lighten the batter and help it rise.
- Granulated sugar
- Beaten with the yolks to create a creamy texture and add sweetness.
- Flour
- Added gradually to give the batter body and set structure during baking.
The step that matters
Folding in the whipped egg whites. Whites deflate easily when overmixed or stirred vigorously. Folding gently keeps the trapped air that lightens the batter and helps the biscuits rise.
“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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