Name: Biscuits — Continued
Ingredients: 1 lb butter; 5 lb granulated wheat-meal; 4 oz sugar; 4 oz ground arrowroot; ½ oz bicarbonate of soda; 4 eggs; 1 qt milk

Why it works: Wheat and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,418 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓

Biscuits — Continued

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the dough

Rub the butter into the wheat-meal.
Mix in the sugar, ground arrowroot, and bicarbonate of soda.
Make a cavity in the center.
Pour the milk into the cavity.
Add the eggs and mix until combined.

Bake

Drop the mixture onto a baking sheet.
Bake in a hot oven (400°F / 200°C) 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.

Wheat + milktop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,418 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Wheat + arrowroottop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together22 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Butter + wheattop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,002 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Butter: Coats the flour and adds richness and tenderness to the biscuits.
Granulated wheat-meal: Forms the main structure of the dough as it sets in the oven.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the biscuits brown.
Ground arrowroot: Adds a lighter, more tender crumb by diluting the wheat's gluten.
Bicarbonate of soda: Reacts with the acidity in the mixture to produce gas that makes the biscuits rise.
Eggs: Bind the dough and add structure and richness.