Name: Huckleberry Short-cake
Ingredients: two cupfuls of sugar; one pint of sweet milk; one tablespoonful of salt; a cupful of butter; a quart of flour; two heaping teaspoonfuls of baking powder sifted into a quart of flour; salt

Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓

Huckleberry Short-cake

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

Combine two cupfuls of sugar, half a cupful of butter, one pint of sweet milk, one tablespoonful of salt, and two heaping teaspoonfuls of baking powder sifted into a quart of flour to form a thick batter.
Add a quart of huckleberries.

Bake and serve

Bake in a dripper.
Cut into squares for the table and serve hot with butter.
Blackberries may be used the same.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

755Calories

21 gProtein

21 gFat

120 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 5 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
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.

By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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.

Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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).
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

Flour: Forms the structure of the batter as it bakes.
Baking powder: Releases gas in the batter so it rises and becomes light.
Butter: Adds fat that makes the shortcake tender and rich.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown.
Sweet milk: Adds moisture that hydrates the flour and binds the batter.
Huckleberries (in the method): Add tart-sweet flavor and juice that colour and moisten the batter.