Name: Sally Lun Muffins
Ingredients: 2 cups flour; 4 teaspoons baking powder; 1-2 teaspoons salt; 2 eggs; 1-2 cups milk; 4 tablespoons melted butter

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 ↓

Sally Lun Muffins

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure. The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the batter

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and salt.
In another bowl, beat the eggs separately.
Add the milk and melted butter to the eggs, then combine with the dry ingredients.
Finally, fold in the beaten egg whites.

Bake

Pour the batter into a greased muffin tin and bake for 15-20 minutes.

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.

Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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: Forms the main structure that holds the muffins together as they set.
Eggs: Add structure, richness and help the muffins set as they bake.
Baking powder: Releases gas in the batter so the muffins rise in the oven.
Milk: Adds moisture and liquid that hydrates the flour and gives a soft crumb.
Melted butter: Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and contributes to flavour and browning.

The step that matters

Fold in the beaten egg whites. Folding gently keeps the air trapped in the whipped whites, which helps the muffins rise lightly. Stirring vigorously knocks that air out and can leave them 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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Sally Lun Muffins