Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Large Fruit Tart
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a rather hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare pastry as large as a dinner plate and cut butter into thick slices.
Lay butter irregularly on the pastry, dust with flour, and fold to enclose the butter.
Roll out the pastry quickly two or three times, then use immediately or refrigerate wrapped in a floured cloth.
Line deep pie plates with pastry strips or an under-crust.
Heap cherries high in the dish and sprinkle with sugar.
Lay a top crust lightly on the fruit, wetting the under crust edges to adhere without pressing.
Form a groove with your finger about half an inch from the edge of the upper crust and cut diagonal slits for juice to escape.
Brush the crust with beaten egg and bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until browned.
Serve hot or cool, dusted with powdered sugar, and optionally with whipped 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 + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 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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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Butter and flour 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
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