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 ↓
New England Short Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the dough
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a bowl, mix the flour, salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar, then sift twice.
Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine meal, or melt the butter and add it hot with the milk.
Gradually add the milk, mixing with a knife until combined.
Shape and bake
Divide the dough into two parts and roll each gently to the size of a pie plate.
Bake until golden brown.
Serve
Cut around the edge, tear open, and spread with softened butter. Optionally, add fruit.
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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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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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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Cream + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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 main structure of the shortcake once mixed with liquid.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the cream of tartar to produce gas that lifts the dough.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the mix so it reacts with the baking soda to help the shortcake rise.
- Butter
- Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and gives a rich flavor.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour and binds the dough, adding moisture and tenderness.
The step that matters
Gradually add the milk, mixing until combined. Overmixing once liquid is added develops gluten, which makes the shortcake tough instead of tender. Mixing just until the dough comes together keeps it light.
“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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