Name: Cottaqe Pxtddino
Ingredients: three tablespoons of melted butter; one cup of white sugar; one pint of flour; one half teaspoon of soda dissolved in one cup of sweet milk; one half pints of milk; three tablespoonfuls of sugar; two teaspoons of cream of tartar into a quart of flour; two cups of milk; a quart of flour; one ggg; one teaspoonful of cream tartar; one cup of sweet milk; three eggs; two tablespoonsfuls of lard; half butter is better; one tea- spoonful of soda in hot water

Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓

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.

Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Milk + teatop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together738 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 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: Adds richness and tenderness to the crumb as it is creamed with sugar.
White sugar: Sweetens the cake and helps it brown during baking.
Flour: Forms the structure of the cake once it is set by heat.
Cream of tartar: Acidifies the batter so it reacts with soda to lift the cake.
Soda: Reacts with the acid in the batter to produce gas that makes the cake rise.
Sweet milk: Provides moisture and dissolves the soda so it can be distributed evenly.

The step that matters

Adding the soda dissolved in milk. Soda and cream of tartar must react while the batter is mixed and in the oven. Adding soda too late or leaving the batter to stand lets the gas escape, so the cake rises less.

“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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Lard	1 tbsp (12.8g)	115
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Water	not in our table	0

Cottaqe Pxtddino