Why it works: Flour and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Soda 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
Mix lard, cream of tartar, and salt with the flour.
Dissolve the baking soda in the sour milk.
Make and bake
Combine all ingredients to form a soft dough.
Roll out the dough and cut into shapes.
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven.
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 + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, 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
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the dough and shapes together as it bakes.
- Sour milk
- Supplies moisture and acid that reacts with the baking soda to help the dough rise.
- Lard
- Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and keeps the cake soft.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acids in the sour milk and cream of tartar to release gas that lifts the dough.
- Cream of tartar
- Adds acidity that reacts with the baking soda to leaven the dough.
The step that matters
Dissolve the baking soda in the sour milk. Baking soda only leavens when it meets acid and is evenly dispersed. If it is not fully dissolved, it can leave bitter or yellowish spots and uneven rising.
“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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