Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓
Fayal Biscuit
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°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 the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, mix flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and sugar.
In another bowl, combine milk and beaten eggs.
Melt the butter and add it to the milk and egg mixture.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients until just mixed.
Bake and serve
Pour the batter into tea cake tins or muffin rings.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the biscuit as its proteins and starch set in the oven.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar to produce gas that makes the biscuit rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Acts as an acid that reacts with baking soda, producing lift and a tender crumb.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, helping the batter set and hold its shape when baked.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and softness, and helps hydrate the flour into a batter.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and flavor, and contributes to browning in the oven.
The step that matters
Combine the wet and dry ingredients until just mixed.. Overmixing develops gluten in the flour, which makes the biscuits tough. Stop once no dry flour streaks remain so the texture stays tender.
“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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