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 ↓
Farina Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the custard
In a double boiler, combine milk, farina, sugar, and salt.
Cook for 30 minutes, stirring frequently, until thickened.
Before removing from heat, stir in the beaten egg.
Shape and coat
Pour the mixture into a buttered shallow pan or muffin rings.
Brush the top with egg white mixed with 1 tablespoon of milk.
Brown in a 350°F (175°C) oven, or let cool in the pan.
Once cold, cut into shapes, dip in breadcrumbs, then in egg, and again in breadcrumbs.
Fry and serve
Sauté until golden brown and serve hot or cold with jelly.
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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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that cooks with the farina into a thick custard.
- Farina
- Thickens the milk as it cooks, giving the mixture a firm, sliceable body.
- Egg
- Adds richness and helps bind the custard as it sets.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and contributes to browning on the outside.
The step that matters
Cooking the custard over a double boiler. Gentle, indirect heat with frequent stirring keeps the farina from scorching or lumping while it thickens fully. Thorough thickening is what lets the mixture be cut into firm shapes later.
“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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