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Dessert

Bye Biscuit

A biscuit made with rye meal, flour, molasses, egg, salt, sour milk, and saleratus.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

Bye Biscuit

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the dough

  1. In a large bowl, combine the rye meal, flour, molasses, egg, salt, sour milk, and saleratus.

  2. Mix until well combined.

Shape and bake

  1. Shape the dough into biscuits.

  2. Place on a baking sheet and let rise for a short time.

  3. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) 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.

  1. Rye + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,320 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Rye + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together918 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,429 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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

Rye meal
Adds a dense, earthy flavour and a tender, slightly crumbly texture.
Flour
Provides gluten structure so the biscuits hold their shape.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, moisture, deep flavour and helps the crust brown.
Egg
Binds the dough and adds richness and structure.
Sour milk
Supplies moisture and acid that reacts with the saleratus to aid rising.
Saleratus
Leavens the dough by releasing carbon dioxide when it meets the acid in sour milk.

The step that matters

Letting the biscuits rise briefly before baking. Saleratus and sour milk begin releasing gas as soon as they are combined. Shaping and baking promptly keeps that gas in the dough, so the biscuits rise well rather than going flat.

“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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