Name: Apple Biscuit
Ingredients: 1 pint light bread sponge; ¼ cup molasses; 1 tablespoon lard; graham or whole wheat flour (for a soft dough); 1 cup chopped apple

Why it works: Bread and wheat match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 209 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓

Apple Biscuit

Ingredients

Directions

In a bowl, combine the light bread sponge, molasses, and lard.
Gradually add enough graham or whole wheat flour to form a soft dough.
Beat the mixture vigorously until well combined.
Fold in the chopped apple until evenly distributed.
Shape the dough into biscuits and place them in muffin pans.
Let the biscuits rise until very light before baking.

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.

Bread + wheattop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together209 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Bread + appletop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,790 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Wheat + appletop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together205 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
Molasses + appletop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together970 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Molasses + wheattop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together702 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).