Name: Seed Buns
Ingredients: 1 ounce caraway seeds; 2 pounds plain bun dough; Butter for greasing; 1 egg white; Powdered sugar for sprinkling; Water for dissolving sugar

Why it works: Butter and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Seed Buns

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.

Prepare the buns

Mix caraway seeds into the bun dough.
Form the dough into buns.
Butter the insides of tart pans and place a bun in each pan.
Let the buns rise near the fire.

Ice and bake

Once risen, ice the buns with the beaten egg white.
Sprinkle powdered sugar over the icing, dissolving it with water from a brush.
Bake for 10 minutes at 400°F (200°C).

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Caraway + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,409 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Caraway + buttertop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,273 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).