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Buttermilk Bites

They might be known as biscuits in America, but they taste like a savoury scone and are perfect for scooping up chowder sauce

By bbcgoodfood · From Open Recipes · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and buttermilk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 3,667 recipes mention both. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 2
Prep15 min
Cook12 min

Ingredients

Contains: milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Heat the oven to 425°F (220°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment or lightly flour it.

  2. Put the self-raising flour, sugar and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl and stir to combine.

  3. Rub in the cold butter with your fingertips or cut it in with a knife until the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs.

  4. Pour in the buttermilk and stir with a knife until a soft, slightly sticky dough forms.

  5. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, pat it to about 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick, and cut into small rounds, pressing straight down without twisting.

  6. Gather the scraps, pat them out once more and cut out the remaining rounds.

  7. Arrange the rounds on the prepared sheet and brush the tops with the cream or milk.

  8. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until risen and golden, then transfer to a rack to cool slightly before serving.

By bbcgoodfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Flour + buttermilktop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together3,667 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Butter + creamtop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together41,494 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Sugar + creamtop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together43,437 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Flour + buttertop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together122,858 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Buttermilk + creamtop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together674 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Flour and butter share little aroma chemistry, yet 122,858 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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