Cream Pie

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

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

2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together41,516 recipes

   Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

3. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together43,450 recipes

   Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

4. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together124,287 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

5. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together78,219 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Butter

Creams with sugar to add richness and a tender texture to the custard.

Flour

Helps thicken the custard so it sets into a sliceable filling.

Sweet milk

Forms the liquid base of the custard, which thickens as it cooks.

Eggs

Yolks thicken the custard, and whites whip into a foam for the topping.

Sugar

Adds sweetness and helps stabilize the beaten egg whites.

The step that matters

Swap the currant

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

1. Vanillafits better
2. Raisinfits better
3. Coconutfits better
4. Currantthe original

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