Name: Parisian Barm
Ingredients: malt; salt; sugar; flour; old barm (or Virgin)

Why it works: Sugar and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓

Parisian Barm

Ingredients

Directions

Scald the malt mixture and let it cool to 84°F (29°C).
After 24-27 hours, mix in salt, sugar, and flour.
Store the mixture in a warm place, ensuring the temperature stays between 80°F (27°C) and 84°F (29°C).
Stir the mixture three times over the next 24 hours, monitoring the temperature.
After 12 hours, stir again; the mixture should be actively fermenting.
When the mixture is nearly full down, move it to a cool place on the third day after brewing.

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.

Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Malt + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together325 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Malt + flourtop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together260 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).