Name: Cream Biscuits
Ingredients: 3 tablespoons sour cream; ⅔ quart sweet milk; 2 teaspoons cream of tartar; 1 teaspoon baking soda; ¼ teaspoon salt; flour (amount not specified)

Why it works: Milk and flour 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 ↓

Cream Biscuits

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.

Mix the dough

Combine sour cream and sweet milk in a bowl.
Add cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.
Pour the mixture into the flour and mix until soft.

Bake

Bake in a preheated oven at 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Cream + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together29,399 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cream + flourtop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together30,481 recipes

Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

Milk and flour 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

Sour cream: Adds moisture and tang, keeping the biscuits tender.
Sweet milk: Adds moisture so the flour forms a soft dough.
Cream of tartar: Acidic, reacting with baking soda to produce gas that makes the biscuits rise.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acid in the dough to release gas for rising.
Flour: Provides the structure that holds the biscuits together as they bake.