Why it works: Flour and buttermilk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,721 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Buttermilk Short 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.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a bowl, rub the butter into the flour.
Dissolve the baking soda in the buttermilk.
Beat the egg and stir it into the buttermilk mixture.
Make and bake
Pour the buttermilk mixture into the flour and butter, mixing to form a moderately stiff dough.
Roll out the dough into cakes and bake until golden brown.
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 + buttermilktop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,721 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + buttermilktop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,674 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Flour and butter 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
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the dough as the main body of the shortcakes.
- Butter
- Rubbed into the flour to add tenderness and richness to the crumb.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic buttermilk to produce gas that helps the cakes rise.
- Buttermilk
- Adds moisture and acidity, activating the baking soda and tenderizing the dough.
- Egg
- Binds the mixture and adds richness and structure to the dough.
The step that matters
Pour the buttermilk mixture into the flour and butter, mixing to form a moderately stiff dough.. Mixing only until the dough just holds together keeps it tender; overworking develops gluten and makes the shortcakes tough.
“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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