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Drop Biscuits

Drop biscuits are small biscuits dropped from a spoon, baked at 400°F for 15 minutes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Drop Biscuits

Why it works: Wheat and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,418 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓

Drop Biscuits

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

  1. Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder into a bowl.

  2. Rub in the butter or lard until thoroughly mixed.

  3. Add the milk gradually, moistening a small portion of the flour at a time. Use more liquid if necessary to make a batter that will drop from a spoon.

Shape and bake

  1. Drop 2 tablespoons of batter for each biscuit onto a baking pan, placing them 2 inches apart.

  2. Bake in a brisk oven at 400°F (200°C) for 15 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

  1. Wheat + milktop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Wheat + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

Winter wheat flour
Provides the structure that holds the biscuits together as they bake.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the biscuits rise and become light.
Butter or lard
Coats flour particles to tenderize the crumb and adds richness and flavor.
Milk
Hydrates the flour to form a batter and adds moisture for a soft interior.

The step that matters

Add the milk gradually. Adding liquid in small portions lets the flour absorb it evenly. Overmixing once wet develops gluten, which makes biscuits tough, so stop once the batter just holds together.

“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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