Why it works: Wheat and rice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 423 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓
Plain Biscuits
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a slow oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Mix undressed wheat meal with water to form a dough.
Knead the dough to the required thickness.
Pierce the cakes to let out steam.
Bake in a moderately quick oven at 400°F (200°C) until golden brown.
When three parts done, move to a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) to allow steam to escape.
If biscuits are too hard, add a little arrow-root or ground rice to the meal.
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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Wheat + ricetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together423 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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