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Dessert

Butter Scotch Pie

A sweet pastry with a butter, egg yolk, and sugar filling, topped with stiffly beaten egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Butter Scotch Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

  1. Cream together the egg yolks, butter, brown sugar, and vanilla.

  2. Stir in the flour and milk.

  3. Add the boiling water and mix well.

Top and bake

  1. Beat the egg whites until stiff.

  2. Spread the stiff egg whites over the top.

  3. Bake until the top is golden.

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.

  1. Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Vanilla + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,241 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Egg yolks
Enrich the batter and help bind it into a smooth, cohesive mixture.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender texture and rich flavor when creamed with sugar.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness, moisture, and a deep caramel-like flavor.
Flour
Provides structure that holds the filling together as it bakes.
Milk
Adds moisture and helps loosen the batter to a spreadable consistency.
Egg whites
Whipped into a stiff foam that sets and browns to form the topping.

The step that matters

Beat the egg whites until stiff. Whites must be whipped to firm peaks so they trap air and hold their shape. Under-beaten whites will slump and bake flat, while over-beaten whites turn dry and grainy.

Swap the vanilla

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, sugar, flour, milk):

  1. Vanillathe original
  2. Raisinfits about as well
  3. Figfits less well
  4. Coconutfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, sugar, flour, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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