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Muffins of Buttermilk

A quick baked muffin made with buttermilk, flour, egg, salt, and baking soda.

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 ↓

Muffins of Buttermilk

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Make the batter

  1. In a bowl, mix the buttermilk with enough flour to create a very stiff batter.

  2. Add the beaten egg and a little salt.

  3. Dissolve the baking soda in hot water and add it to the mixture.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into patty pans or rings.

  2. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven 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.

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Buttermilk + eggtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,986 recipes

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

Flour and egg 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

Buttermilk
Adds moisture and acidity, and the acid reacts with the baking soda to help the muffins rise.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the stiff batter together as it bakes.
Egg
Binds the batter and adds structure as the muffins set in the oven.
Baking soda
Reacts with the buttermilk's acid to produce gas that lifts and lightens the muffins.

The step that matters

Dissolving the baking soda and adding it to the batter. Baking soda only produces gas when it meets acid and is spread evenly through the batter. Dissolving it in hot water helps it distribute fully, so the batter rises evenly rather than in uneven pockets.

“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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