Name: Peach Short Cake
Ingredients: ½ teaspoon salt; 2 cups flour; 2 teaspoons baking powder; 2 tablespoons lard; 2 tablespoons sugar; 1 cup milk; Peaches (for serving)

Why it works: Milk and peach work together. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 781 recipes. Both carry phellandrene, which smells minty. The science ↓

Peach Short Cake

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the batter

In a bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, salt, lard, and sugar.
Add the milk and stir until combined.
Pour the batter into a flat pan and bake until golden.

Serve

Cut into squares and serve with peaches.

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 + peachtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together781 recipes

Shared aroma: phellandrene (minty).
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).
Sugar + peachtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,308 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Flour + peachtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together787 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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 shortcake as it bakes.
Baking powder: Releases gas during baking so the shortcake rises and stays light.
Lard: Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and gives a short texture.
Milk: Hydrates the flour and moistens the batter so it bakes through.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown as it bakes.