Name: Muffins Without Eggs
Ingredients: 2 cups buttermilk or sour milk; 1 tablespoon butter; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in a little hot water; 3 ¾ cups flour

Why it works: Buttermilk and flour 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 ↓

Muffins Without Eggs

Ingredients

2 cups buttermilk or sour milk
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in a little hot water
3 ¾ cups flour

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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

Mix the batter

In a bowl, mix the buttermilk, melted butter, salt, and baking soda.
Gradually add the flour, stirring until just combined.
Pour the batter into buttered muffin tins.

Bake

Bake immediately for 15-20 minutes or 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.

Buttermilk + flourtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,721 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Buttermilk + buttertop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,674 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Butter and flour 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

Buttermilk: Its acidity reacts with the baking soda and adds moisture and tang.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acid in the buttermilk to release gas that makes the muffins rise.
Flour: Provides the structure that holds the muffins together as they set.
Butter: Adds fat that softens the crumb and contributes richness.

The step that matters

Stir the flour in only until just combined. Overmixing develops gluten, which makes muffins tough. Bake immediately, because the baking soda reacts with the buttermilk's acid and its gas escapes if the batter stands.

“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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Muffins Without Eggs