Name: Soda Biscuits
Ingredients: 3 cups winter wheat flour; 1 cup buttermilk; 1 scant teaspoon salt; 1 heaping tablespoon lard; ½ teaspoon baking soda; 1 teaspoon baking powder

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 ↓

Soda Biscuits

Ingredients

Directions

In a large bowl, place 2 cups of sifted flour.
Make a hole in the center and pour in the buttermilk.
Add the salt and mix with your fingertips to create a soft batter, similar to pancake batter.
Incorporate the lard until blended, then add the remaining 1 cup of flour and baking powder.
Knead lightly to form a medium stiff dough.

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.

Flour + buttermilktop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,721 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,373 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Wheat + buttermilktop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together226 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).