Why it works: Cinnamon and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,950 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
New England Buns
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
Rub butter and 3 tablespoons of sugar together in a bowl.
Stir in the well-beaten eggs.
Sift in 1 pint of flour.
Add the milk.
Sift in the remaining flour.
Add the yeast.
Beat well for 10 minutes.
Mix in the evening.
Cover the dough.
Let rise overnight.
Add 1 tablespoon of sugar.
Stir well.
Let rise until afternoon.
Shape the buns
Rub the currants through well-floured hands.
Stir the currants into the dough.
Add cinnamon.
Add lemon juice if desired.
Flour the rolling pin and board.
Roll out the dough to ½ inch thick.
Cut the dough with a biscuit cutter.
Shape the buns.
Place the buns in pans without letting them touch.
Let rise for 2 hours.
Bake and finish
Bake until light brown.
Brush the tops with beaten egg white mixed with a little sugar.
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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Cinnamon + lemontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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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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Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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 gluten network that traps gas and gives the buns their structure.
- Yeast
- Produces carbon dioxide as it ferments, making the dough rise and become airy.
- Eggs
- Add richness and structure, helping bind the dough and set during baking.
- Butter
- Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and gives a softer texture.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and some sugars that help the dough brown in the oven.
- Currants
- Add concentrated sweetness and fruit flavour throughout the buns.
The step that matters
Letting the dough rise fully. Yeast needs time to ferment and build gas bubbles; rising too little leaves dense buns, while the long overnight rise develops flavour and an open crumb.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, cinnamon, lemon, egg, sugar, butter, flour):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, cinnamon, lemon, egg, sugar, butter, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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