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Dessert

Cream of Tartar Biscuit

A simple biscuit made with flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, butter, and milk, baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Cream of Tartar Biscuit

Why it works: Wheat and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,418 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓

Cream of Tartar Biscuit

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the dough

  1. Sift the flour, cream of tartar, and baking soda together.

  2. Add the butter and work it into the flour.

  3. Gradually add sweet milk to form a soft paste.

  4. Roll out the paste on a floured surface to 1 inch thick.

  5. Cut into small round or square cakes.

Bake

  1. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 10 to 15 minutes.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Wheat + milktop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 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

Fine wheat flour
Forms the main structure that holds the biscuit together as it bakes.
Cream of tartar
Acidic component that reacts with baking soda to produce gas for rising and a tender crumb.
Baking soda
Alkaline leavening that reacts with the acid to release carbon dioxide, lifting the dough.
Sweet butter
Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and contributes richness and flavor.
Sweet milk
Hydrates the flour to form a cohesive dough and adds moisture for a soft texture.

The step that matters

Working the butter into the flour. Rubbing the butter into the flour coats the starch and limits gluten development, so the biscuit stays tender rather than tough. Overworking the dough after adding milk can toughen it and reduce rise.

“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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