Name: How We Cook in Tennessee
Ingredients: two tablespoons of butter into one quart of sifted dainty flour; two teaspoons of baking powder; one cup of milk; half cup sugar; half cup butter; one cup liquid yeast; one quart dainty flour; a piece of dough large enough to make one dozen rolls; four; one quart of sifted dainty flour; three medium sized potatoes; one large spoon lard; one egg; one cake of compressed yeast dissolved; half over the other in pocket- book shape; one dozen rolls; two eggs; two eggs beaten very stiff; 11 o'clock in summer; salt; pepper

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).
Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,305 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Milk + potatotop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,611 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + potatotop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

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: Rubbed into the flour, it coats flour particles and makes the crust tender and flaky.
Baking powder: Releases gas when heated, helping the dough rise and become light in the oven.
Milk: Hydrates the flour to form a soft dough and adds moisture and browning on the brushed tops.
Dainty flour: Provides the structure that the dough is built on once it is hydrated.

The step that matters

Add just enough milk to make a soft dough easily handled. Too much milk makes the dough sticky and tough to shape, while too little leaves dry flour that bakes up dense. Adding it gradually lets you judge the texture.

Swap the potato

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

Capsicumfits about as well
Sweet potatofits about as well
Potatothe original
Asparagusfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, milk, sugar, egg, pepper. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Lard	1 tbsp (12.8g)	115
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Cake	not in our table	0

How We Cook in Tennessee