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
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.
Make the dough
Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl.
Rub in the lard, butter, and salt until well combined.
Mix in enough cold water or milk to form a soft dough.
Roll the dough to about 1 inch thick and bake at 400 °F (200 °C) until golden.
Assemble and serve
Open the cake while hot and butter the layers.
Spread the mashed and sweetened strawberries between the layers and on top.
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).
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
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the main structure of the dough as its proteins set during baking.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking so the shortcake rises and becomes light.
- Lard
- Fat rubbed into the flour that tenderises the crumb and keeps it short.
- Butter
- Adds fat for flavour and tenderness and helps the layers brown.
- Fresh strawberries
- Provide moisture, sweetness and fruity acidity to the filling and topping.
The step that matters
Rub in the lard and butter until well combined. Fat coating the flour particles limits gluten formation, so rubbing it in evenly keeps the shortcake tender rather than tough.
“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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