Why it works: Milk and butter 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 Shortcake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the dough
Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together twice.
Rub the lard into the flour mixture until it resembles small flakes.
Gradually add milk, mixing with a knife until a spongy dough forms.
Turn the dough onto a floured surface and divide it into two equal parts.
Pat each part into a flat cake to fit a pie pan.
Bake and assemble
Place one cake in a greased pan, butter it well, and place the other on top.
Let it stand for 10 minutes.
Bake in a hot oven (400°F / 200°C) until thoroughly done.
Once baked, separate the layers easily, butter them, and spread with crushed strawberries mixed with sugar.
Stack the layers and cover with more strawberries.
Serve hot.
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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Milk + buttertop 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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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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 dough and sets the crumb of the baked layers.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking so the layers rise and become light.
- Lard or shortening
- Coats flour particles to tenderize the layers and create a flaky texture.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour so the dough binds together and bakes through.
- Strawberries
- Add moisture, fruity flavor, and acidity that balance the sweetness.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the strawberries and draws out their juice.
The step that matters
Bake in a hot oven until thoroughly done. Baking powder needs a hot oven to release gas quickly, so the layers rise. If the bake is too short, the centre stays gummy and the layers collapse when separated.
“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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