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 ↓
Pot-pie
Ingredients
Directions
Make the filling
Place the meat in boiling water to cover.
Add the bacon.
Cover and boil for 1 hour, seasoning to taste.
Add the batter and serve
In a bowl, mix the eggs, milk, baking powder, and enough flour to create a batter.
Drop spoonfuls of the batter into the boiling pot.
Cook for 5 minutes.
Serve immediately.
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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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Veal + milktop 24% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,013 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Veal + eggtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,845 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and help the dumplings set as they cook.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the batter together while it cooks.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas that lifts the batter so the dumplings puff slightly.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and softness to the batter.
- Bacon
- Adds fat and smoky flavor to the cooking liquid.
The step that matters
Drop spoonfuls of the batter into the boiling pot. The batter must sit on top of a steadily boiling liquid so it sets quickly. If the liquid is not boiling, the dumplings absorb water, become gummy and can fall apart.
“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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