Why it works: Flour and buttermilk 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 ↓
Graham Gems
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat your gem irons until hot.
In a bowl, mix the Graham flour, sugar, lard, salt, and baking soda.
Add buttermilk gradually until you achieve a thick batter.
Bake
Spoon the batter into the hot gem irons.
Bake in a quick oven at 400°F (200°C) 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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Flour + buttermilktop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,721 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Sugar + buttermilktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,973 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Graham flour
- Provides the bulk and structure of the gems, with its bran giving a coarse, hearty texture.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the buttermilk's acidity to release gas, helping the gems rise and lighten.
- Buttermilk
- Hydrates the flour into a batter and its acidity activates the baking soda.
- Lard
- Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and helps the gems brown and release from the irons.
- Sugar
- Adds a little sweetness and helps the crust brown.
The step that matters
Spoon the batter into the hot gem irons. The irons must be well heated before the batter goes in so the outside sets and browns quickly. Cold irons let the batter spread and stick, and the gems bake up flat and pale.
“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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