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 ↓
Love Knots
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick 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).
In a bowl, rub together the butter, sugar, and flour until fine.
Add the lard, eggs, milk, and baking soda; mix well.
Roll the dough to ½ inch thick and cut into strips 1 inch wide and 5 inches long.
Shape and cook
Twist each strip into a knot shape.
Boil the knots in plenty of lard until rich yellow.
Dust with sugar before serving.
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.
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 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
- Provides the structure that holds the dough together and sets as it cooks.
- Butter
- Adds richness and tenderness by coating flour particles and carrying flavour.
- Eggs
- Bind the dough and add richness, structure and color.
- Baking soda
- Reacts to lift the dough and help it spread and brown.
- Lard
- Adds fat for tenderness and, when boiled, gives the knots a crisp, golden surface.
The step that matters
Boil the knots in plenty of lard until rich yellow. The knots must be fully submerged in hot fat so they cook evenly and brown without absorbing excess grease. Too cool a fat makes them soak up oil and turn heavy, while overcooking dries them out.
“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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