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 says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the dough
Sift flour with baking powder and salt.
Mix in butter and lard, then add sugar.
Add milk to form a medium dough.
Divide dough in half and roll out to ¼ inch thickness.
Place one layer on a baking sheet and brush with butter.
Roll out the second half and place on top of the first.
Bake and assemble
Bake in a moderate oven (350°F/175°C) for 30 minutes.
Wash and pick over the strawberries.
Crush half of the strawberries and mix with sugar.
Split the shortcake and layer with plenty of berries, topping with more berries.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with cream.
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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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
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the shortcake as it sets in the oven.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking so the shortcake rises and stays light.
- Butter and lard
- Fat that makes the shortcake tender and flaky as it bakes.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the crushed strawberries become syrupy.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour so the ingredients bind into a dough.
- Fresh strawberries
- Provide fresh fruit flavor and juice that moistens the split shortcake.
The step that matters
Roll the two layers to an even ¼ inch before baking. Even thickness lets the shortcake bake through at the same rate. Overworking the dough develops gluten, making the shortcake tough rather than tender.
“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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