Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Lillian Turek
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
Rub one tablespoon of butter and one tablespoon of lard into one cup of flour.
Add a pinch of salt.
Add yolks of three eggs, well beaten, and enough milk to make dough (about two tablespoons).
Roll out the dough.
Fill and top the pie
Line a large pie tin with the dough.
Sprinkle the tin with a very little flour.
Add strawberries.
Sprinkle with a level tablespoon of flour.
Sprinkle one cup of sugar.
Cover with whites of eggs beaten and sweetened.
Lay strips of dough one inch wide lengthwise and crosswise over the filling.
Bake
Bake for three-quarters of an hour.
Tie a narrow strip of cloth around the edge of the pie tin to prevent juice from running out.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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
- Builds the crust's structure and, sprinkled over the fruit, helps thicken the juices.
- Butter
- Adds fat that keeps the crust tender and short rather than tough.
- Eggs
- Yolks bind the dough, and whites beaten and sweetened form a light topping.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the strawberry filling and balances the fruit's tartness.
- Strawberries (in the method)
- Provide the main fruit flavour, along with moisture that bakes into the filling.
The step that matters
Tie a cloth strip around the tin edge. Strawberries release juice as they bake, and if it escapes it can make the pie watery and burn on the pan. The cloth band keeps the juice contained while the flour thickens it.
“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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