Name: The Dewey Cook Book
Ingredients: 6 ounces butter; 6 ounces brown sugar; 6 ounces flour; 3 pounds raisins; three pounds of frosting sugar; half ounces gum arabic; two squares of chocolate; one-half cup of sweet milk; one cup of sugar; one teaspoonful of soda; one teaspoonful of vanilla; 2 cups sugar; 34 pound chocolate; 1 teaspoonful cream of tartar; three tablespoonfuls; three tablespoonfuls of boiling water to the chocolate; 1 cup sugar; two cups of flour in which has been sifted a half teaspoonful of soda; half teaspoonful of soda; 2 cups flour; a cup of milk; two good cupfuls; two cupfuls; five eggs; three pounds; 2 dozen eggs; four large loaves; ten eggs; one egg beaten together; one egg

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 ↓

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).
Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,187 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,020 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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).

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 through fat.
Flour: Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Eggs: Bind the batter and help set the structure as it bakes.
Brown sugar: Adds sweetness and moisture, along with a deeper flavor.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, chocolate, milk, vanilla, cream):

Coconutfits better
Figfits better
Strawberryfits better
Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, chocolate, milk, vanilla, cream. 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
Chocolate	1 oz (28g) semisweet	155
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Walnut	1 walnut half (4g)	26
Vanilla	1 tsp extract (4ml)	12
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0
Cake	not in our table	0

The Dewey Cook Book