Name: English Raisin Bread
Ingredients: two cups flour; four teaspoons baking powder; two teaspoons shortening; one-half cup sugar; one-half cup raisins; one-half cup currants; one-half cup milk; one egg; two mixtures as in baking powder biscuit

Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

English Raisin Bread

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the dough

Mix dry ingredients.
Cut the shortening into the dry mixture.
Add fruit.
Beat whole egg and add milk to it.
Combine the two mixtures as in baking powder biscuit.

Bake

Put in greased pan and bake in moderate oven forty to forty-five minutes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1061Calories

31 gProtein

34 gFat

158 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Biscuit	1 medium (45g)	166
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Chicago. Bethany union church. Woman's society. [from old catalog]. 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. See the original page.

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.

Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,075 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + biscuittop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together889 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Raisin + biscuittop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,180 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,481 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Flour: Forms the main structure of the bread as it sets around the other ingredients.
Baking powder: Releases gas during baking so the bread rises and becomes light.
Shortening: Coats flour particles and adds tenderness and richness to the crumb.
Egg: Adds structure and richness, helping the bread set and hold together.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown during baking.

Swap the currant

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

Vanillafits better
Figfits better
Coconutfits better
Currantthe original

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

“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.