Why it works: Potato and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,611 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓
Tea Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the dough
Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together twice.
Cut in the shortening until well combined.
Moisten the mixture with milk, then add the mashed potato and currants.
Roll the dough to a thickness of 1 inch and cut into round cakes the size of small tea plates.
Bake and serve
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 20 minutes.
Cut each cake open, butter them, and replace the tops.
Cut each cake into four pieces.
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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Potato + milktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + potatotop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,355 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Currant + milktop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,475 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
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Flour + curranttop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,077 recipes
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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 main structure of the cakes as it sets in the oven.
- Magic baking powder
- Releases gas in the heat, helping the cakes rise and turn light.
- Shortening
- Coats flour particles so the cakes bake up tender and short rather than tough.
- Mashed potato
- Adds moisture and softness to the dough, keeping the cakes tender.
- Currants
- Add sweetness and fruit flavor scattered through the cakes.
The step that matters
Moisten the mixture with milk. Add only enough milk to form a soft dough. Too much liquid makes the dough sticky and hard to roll, while too little leaves the cakes dry and crumbly after baking.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, potato, milk):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, potato, milk. 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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