Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Graham Gems
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, beat the eggs separately.
Make and bake the batter
Combine the milk and graham flour in a large bowl.
Add the egg yolks, boiled rice, salt, melted butter, baking powder, and the beaten egg whites to the mixture.
If using dates, fold in the chopped dates and reduce the flour to 2 cups.
Pour the batter into small pans and bake for 20 minutes.
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 + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Milk + ricetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + datestop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together470 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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
- Eggs
- Egg whites add lift and structure, while yolks enrich the batter and add tenderness.
- Graham flour
- Provides the bulk and structure of the batter, along with its nutty, wholesome flavor.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour and gives the batter moisture and a soft crumb.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the gems rise and become light.
- Boiled rice
- Adds moisture and a tender texture to the batter.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat for richness, tenderness and flavor.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten egg whites. Beaten whites trap air that expands in the oven, so they should be folded in gently to keep the batter light rather than deflated.
Swap the dates
The recipe marks dates as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, flour, rice, egg, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Datesthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, flour, rice, egg, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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