Name: New York Rye Muffins
Ingredients: 1 pint rye flour; ½ pint cornmeal; ½ pint all-purpose flour; 3 teaspoons baking powder; 1 tablespoon sugar; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 tablespoon lard or butter; 2 eggs, beaten; 1 pint milk

Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓

New York Rye Muffins

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 batter

Sift and mix the rye flour, cornmeal, all-purpose flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.
Work in the lard or butter until well combined.
Add the beaten eggs and milk, mixing to form a firm batter.

Bake

Grease muffin pans well and fill them two-thirds full with the batter.
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until golden.

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.

Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Rye + flourtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,320 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Rye + milktop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together918 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 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

Rye flour: Gives a dense, earthy structure and flavour, with less gluten to hold the crumb.
All-purpose flour: Provides gluten that gives the muffins enough structure to hold their shape.
Cornmeal: Adds a coarse, slightly crumbly texture and a mild sweet corn flavour.
Baking powder: Releases gas in the batter, causing the muffins to rise in the oven.
Eggs: Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set in the oven.
Lard or butter: Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and carries flavour.

The step that matters

Fill the pans two-thirds full. Filling too little yields flat, dense muffins, while overfilling can spill over and burn. Two-thirds full leaves room for the batter to rise as the baking powder releases gas in the hot oven.

“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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New York Rye Muffins