Name: Oatmeal or Hominy Muffins
Ingredients: 1 cup cooked oatmeal or cooked hominy; 4 teaspoons baking powder; ½ teaspoon salt; 2 cups flour; ½ cup milk; 2 tablespoons sugar; 1 egg; 2 tablespoons melted butter or drippings

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 ↓

Oatmeal or Hominy Muffins

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 the batter

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Mix and sift the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder.
Add half of the milk and the beaten egg, then mix in the cooked oatmeal or hominy with the remaining milk.
Beat the mixture thoroughly, then add the melted butter or drippings.

Bake

Pour the batter into greased muffin rings or greased gem pans.
Bake until golden brown.

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.

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.

Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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: Provides the main structure that holds the muffins together as they bake.
Egg: Binds the batter and adds structure and richness to the crumb.
Baking powder: Releases gas as it reacts in the batter, helping the muffins rise.
Cooked oatmeal or hominy: Adds moisture and a tender, slightly heavier texture to the crumb.
Milk: Hydrates the flour and sugar to form the batter and adds softness.
Melted butter or drippings: Adds fat for tenderness and rich flavor in the finished muffins.

The step that matters

Beat the mixture thoroughly, then add the melted butter or drippings. Thorough mixing develops gluten for structure, while adding the fat afterward keeps it from coating the flour too early, so the batter's texture and rise are more even.

“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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Oatmeal or Hominy Muffins