Name: The Dewey Cook Book
Ingredients: one-quarter cup of butter; one cup of sugar; one half cup of milk; half cups of flour into which one; half teaspoonfuls of baking powder have been well stirred; one pint of raspberries to which add the eggs; 3 cups flour; 2 cups sugar; 1 cup milk; 2 teaspoonfuls cream of tartar; one pound sugar; one-half pound butter i cup sweet cream; 1 teaspoonful soda; a pound of flour; two well-beaten eggs; two eggs beaten very stiff; 3 eggs; 5 cups; 5 eggs

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).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

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

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 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 fat that makes the cake tender and rich.
Eggs: Add structure and richness, and whipped whites lighten the filling.
Flour: Forms the structure that holds the cake's layers together.
Baking powder: Releases gas in the batter so the layers rise and become light.
Sugar: Sweetens the cake and the filling and helps brown the layers.

The step that matters

Beat the egg whites until very stiff and smooth. Egg whites must be beaten until they form stable foam; under-beaten whites collapse and make the filling runny, while over-beaten whites turn dry and grainy.

“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
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Raspberry	1 cup (123g)	64
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49

The Dewey Cook Book