Name: Buttermilk Biscuits
Ingredients: 1 quart buttermilk; 2 cups all-purpose flour (plus more for dusting); 2 tablespoons white cornmeal; 2 large eggs; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon baking soda; Additional flour as needed to make soft dough

Why it works: Buttermilk and flour 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 ↓

Buttermilk Biscuits

Ingredients

1 quart buttermilk
2 cups all-purpose flour (plus more for dusting)
2 tablespoons white cornmeal
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
Additional flour as needed to make soft dough

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 dough

In a bowl, combine buttermilk and flour to make a smooth batter.
Stir in cornmeal, beaten eggs, salt, and baking soda dissolved in a little milk.
Add more flour to form a soft dough.

Shape and bake

Shape the dough into biscuits.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden.

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.

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.

Buttermilk + flourtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,721 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Buttermilk + eggtop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,986 recipes

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

Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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

Buttermilk: Adds moisture and acidity that reacts with baking soda to lift the biscuits.
All-purpose flour: Provides the structure that holds the soft dough together as it bakes.
Eggs: Add richness and help bind the dough.
Baking soda: Reacts with the buttermilk's acidity to produce gas that makes the biscuits rise.

“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.