Why it works: Flour and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Quick Muffins
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. The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Make the batter
Sift the flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar together.
Soften the cottolene.
Quickly stir the milk into the flour mixture.
Add the softened cottolene.
Bake
Pour the batter into small greased gem pans that have been heated.
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for about 20 minutes.
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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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour and milk 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
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the muffins together as they set.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and hydrates the flour to form the batter.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, causing the muffins to rise.
- Cottolene
- Fat that coats flour particles, tenderizing the crumb and adding richness.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown in the oven.
The step that matters
Quickly stir the milk into the flour mixture. Stirring builds gluten, which toughens the muffins if overmixed. Baking powder also starts reacting once wet, so the batter should go into the hot pans soon after mixing.
“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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