Name: Strawberry Short-cake, No. 2
Ingredients: 1 quart flour; 2 teaspoons baking powder; ¼ teaspoon salt; ½ cup butter; milk (enough to moisten); 1 quart strawberries; sugar (to taste); whipped cream or charlotte russe (for serving)

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 ↓

Strawberry Short-cake, No. 2

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the dough

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together.
Rub in the butter until well combined.
Add enough milk to moisten the mixture.
Handle the dough as little as possible.
Divide the dough into two parts.
Roll each part flat.
Place the rolled dough in two jelly pans.

Bake and split

Bake until golden.
Split each crust in half.
Spread butter on each layer.

Prepare the berries and serve

Wash the strawberries.
Drain the strawberries.
Crush the strawberries slightly.
Sweeten the strawberries to taste.
Layer the crushed strawberries over each crust.
Serve with additional crushed berries as sauce.

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 + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Flour + buttertop 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).

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: Forms the structure of the crust as the dough sets in the oven.
Baking powder: Releases gas in the dough, helping the crust rise and turn light.
Butter: Adds fat that makes the crust tender and flaky when rubbed into the flour.
Milk: Hydrates the flour so the dough holds together and bakes into a soft crumb.
Strawberries: Provide fresh fruit flavor, juice and acidity that balance the sweetness.