Name: Butter Scotch Pie
Ingredients: four tablespoons of flour; two cupfuls of sweet milk; two cups of brown sugar; three eggs; two neaping tablespoons of butter; two under crusts baked; two level spoons of sugar

Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Butter Scotch Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

Stir together four tablespoons of flour and two cups of brown sugar.
Add two cupfuls of sweet milk, the yolks of three eggs (well beaten), two neaping tablespoons of butter, and a teaspoon of vanilla.
Cook in a double boiler until thickened.

Assemble and bake

Have two under crusts ready, baked.
Fill the baked crusts with the mixture.
Whip the whites of the eggs for the top, and add two level spoons of sugar.
Spread the meringue over the filling and set in the oven to brown.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

833Calories

27 gProtein

26 gFat

120 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 5 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
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 United Methodist Church (Grayville, Ill.). 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.

Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

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

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter 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

Flour: Thickens the filling as it cooks, giving it a firm, sliceable body.
Eggs: Yolks thicken and enrich the custard; whites whip into the meringue topping.
Brown sugar: Sweetens the filling and adds the caramel-like butterscotch flavor.
Butter: Adds richness and fat for a smooth texture and flavor.
Sweet milk: Forms the liquid base that thickens into the custard.

The step that matters

Cooking the filling in a double boiler until thickened. Gentle indirect heat lets the flour starch swell and thicken the custard slowly, while direct heat would scorch the sugar and milk or cause lumps.

“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.

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Butter Scotch Pie