Old-fashioned Buttermilk Cookies

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. Flour + buttermilktop 8% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together3,721 recipes

   Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together35,032 recipes

   Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

3. Sugar + buttermilktop 9% of all pairs
   Smell alikestrong
   Cooked together2,973 recipes

   Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

4. Vanilla + flourtop 12% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together19,241 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

5. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together92,116 recipes

   Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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 moisture and a deeper, molasses-like sweetness that helps the cookies brown.

White sugar

Adds sweetness and helps the cookies spread and crisp at the edges.

Shortening

Provides fat that tenderizes the texture and keeps the cookies soft.

Eggs

Bind the dough and add structure and richness.

Flour

Forms the structure that holds the cookies together as they bake.

Buttermilk

Adds acidity that reacts with the soda for lift and a tender crumb.

The step that matters

Swap the vanilla

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, flour, buttermilk):

1. Raisinfits better
2. Vanillathe original
3. Lemonfits less well
4. Blueberryfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, flour, buttermilk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.