Name: Butter Scotch Filling
Ingredients: ½ cup butter; ¾ cup brown sugar; ¼ cup flour; 2 cups scalded milk; 2 egg yolks; ¼ teaspoon salt; 2 egg whites; 2 tablespoons brown sugar; a pinch of salt

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 ↓

Butter Scotch Filling

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Make the filling

Cream the butter in a bowl.
Mix in the brown sugar and flour.
Pour the scalded milk over the mixture and transfer to a double boiler.
Add the beaten egg yolks and stir continuously until thickened.
Add the salt.

Make the meringue and bake

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff.
Gradually beat in the brown sugar and a pinch of salt.
Spread the meringue over the filling and bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 5 minutes to brown.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

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 + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + milktop 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).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 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 a smooth, tender texture to the filling.
Brown sugar: Adds sweetness and the characteristic caramel-like butterscotch flavour.
Flour: Thickens the mixture so it sets into a firm, sliceable filling.
Egg yolks: Thicken the custard as they heat and add richness and colour.
Egg whites: Whipped into a stiff foam that forms the meringue topping.

The step that matters

Stirring the egg yolks into the custard. Egg yolks can curdle or turn grainy if overheated, so stir continuously over the double boiler until the custard thickens evenly.

“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.

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Butter Scotch Filling