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Mrs. Buxton's Graham Gems

A baked Graham flour cookie shaped like a gem.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 ↓

Mrs. Buxton's Graham Gems

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

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Grease the gem pans.

Make the batter

  1. Beat the egg well.

  2. Add the salt.

  3. Stir in the buttermilk or sour milk.

  4. Add enough Graham flour to create a stiff batter.

  5. Mix in the baking soda thoroughly.

  6. Dip a spoon in cold water.

Bake

  1. Drop a spoonful of batter into each gem pan.

  2. Repeat until all pans are filled.

  3. Bake for 30 minutes 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.

  1. Buttermilk + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,721 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Egg + buttermilktop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,986 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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

Egg
Binds the batter and adds structure and richness as it sets in the oven.
Buttermilk or sour milk
Provides moisture and acidity that react with the baking soda to lift the batter.
Graham flour
Forms the body of the batter, giving the gems their structure and texture.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic buttermilk or sour milk to produce gas that makes the gems rise.

The step that matters

Mix in the baking soda thoroughly. Baking soda must be evenly distributed so it reacts with the acid in the buttermilk throughout the batter. Uneven mixing leaves pockets of bitter soda and patches that fail to 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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