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Muffins

Muffins made with barley flour, rolled oats, milk, fat, syrup, eggs, baking powder, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Muffins

Why it works: Barley and oats match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 224 recipes. Both carry 2-octenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Muffins

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

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

  2. In a bowl, combine the milk, melted fat, syrup, and beaten egg.

  3. In another bowl, sift together the salt, baking powder, and flour using a coarse sieve.

Mix and bake

  1. Combine the two mixtures, stirring lightly without beating.

  2. Pour the batter into muffin tins and bake for 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the size of the muffins.

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. Barley + oatstop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together224 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-octenal (fatty, green).

  2. Barley + flourtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together582 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + barleytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together598 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

  4. Milk + oatstop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,119 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

  5. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Milk and flour 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

Barley flour
Provides the main structure of the muffins, with a mild, nutty flavour.
Ground rolled oats
Adds body and a tender, slightly crumbly texture to the crumb.
Eggs
Bind the batter and help set the structure as the muffins bake.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter to make the muffins rise.
Milk
Hydrates the flour and adds moisture and softness to the crumb.

The step that matters

Stir the batter lightly without beating. Overmixing develops gluten in the flour and releases gas from the baking powder too early, which can make muffins tough and dense. Stirring just until combined keeps them 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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