Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓
Pop-overs
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a good hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Sift flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar into a bowl.
Make a hole in the center and break in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add milk and melted butter, and beat the mixture thoroughly.
Bake
Preheat oven or muffin pans and butter them well.
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until puffed and golden.
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 + buttertop 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
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the risen batter walls together as they set.
- Eggs
- Add structure and lift, and their proteins set as the batter bakes, helping popovers puff.
- Milk
- Supplies the liquid that turns steam into rise and keeps the batter loose and moist.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking, adding lift to the batter.
- Melted butter
- Adds richness and tenderness, and helps the crust brown.
The step that matters
Preheat the oven and pans until very hot. Popovers rise mainly from steam produced when the cold batter hits a hot pan. If the oven or pans are not hot enough, the steam forms too slowly and the popovers stay flat and dense.
“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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