Name: Nut Bread No II
Ingredients: 3 cups flour; 1 cup sugar; 1 cup nuts; 1 egg; 1 cup milk; 1 teaspoon baking powder; Butter the size of an egg; 1 teaspoon 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 ↓

Nut Bread No II

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the batter

Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, and nuts in a bowl.
In another bowl, beat the egg lightly, then add milk and butter.
Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until combined.

Bake

Pour the batter into prepared pans and let it stand for fifteen minutes.
Bake in a preheated oven at 300°F (150°C) for forty minutes.

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.

Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + nutstop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,180 recipes

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

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

Flour and butter 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: Provides the structure that holds the loaf together as it sets.
Baking powder: Releases gas during baking so the bread rises and becomes light.
Egg: Binds the batter and adds structure and richness as it sets.
Butter: Adds fat for tenderness and flavor in the crumb.
Milk: Adds moisture that hydrates the flour and helps form the batter.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown during baking.