Name: Charleston Scotch Cake
Ingredients: 1 lb brown sugar; ½ lb butter; 1 lb flour; 4 teaspoons ground cloves

Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Charleston Scotch Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

1 lb brown sugar
½ lb butter
1 lb flour
4 teaspoons ground cloves

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.

Make the dough

Cream together the brown sugar and butter.
Add the ground cloves and mix well.
Gradually stir in the flour, reserving some for dusting the board.
Pat the dough out to ½ inch thickness on a biscuit pan.

Bake and serve

Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 15 minutes.
Cool moderately, cut into squares, and remove before it gets cold.
In cold weather, add 1 teaspoon of warm water or molasses.

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.

Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour + clovetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,671 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Butter + clovetop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,045 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

Butter and flour 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

Brown sugar: Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the cake brown and stay tender.
Butter: Provides fat that creams with sugar for a rich, tender crumb.
Flour: Forms the structure that holds the dough together as it bakes.
Ground cloves: Adds warm, aromatic spice flavor.

The step that matters

Bake in a hot oven and remove before it gets cold. Baking at 400°F sets the dough while it stays pliable enough to cut. Cutting only after it cools moderately prevents the squares from cracking or crumbling, since the sugar and fat firm as they cool.