Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Chicago Muffins
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Mix together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, sugar, and salt.
Work in the butter or lard until well combined.
Beat in the eggs and milk until you have a firm batter.
Cook
Grease the muffin rings and fill them halfway with batter.
Heat a griddle until hot and place the rings on it.
When the batter rises to the top, turn the muffins over.
Serve
Serve with maple syrup if available.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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 add structure as they set during cooking.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the muffins rise and become light.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the main structure once its proteins hydrate and set with heat.
- Cornmeal
- Adds a coarser, grainy texture and a mild corn flavor.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour and cornmeal, giving the batter its liquid and tenderness.
- Butter or lard
- Adds fat that enriches the batter and softens its crumb.
The step that matters
Turning the muffins. Turn them when the batter has risen to the top and the underside is set. Turning too early can deflate the batter and leave the muffins raw in the middle, since the rising gas and setting structure are still forming.
“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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