Why it works: Walnut and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,149 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Feuilletage or Puff Paste
Ingredients
Directions
Make the paste
Sift the flour onto a clean surface.
Form a well in the center.
Add salt, the small piece of butter, and lemon juice.
Add enough cold water to form a smooth paste.
Let the paste rest for 10 minutes.
Prepare the butter
Wash the ¾ pound of butter in iced water.
Knead the butter in a wet cloth.
Shape the butter into a square.
Laminate and turn
Flour the surface.
Roll out the paste into a square larger than the butter.
Make the edges thinner than the center.
Place the butter in the center.
Fold the edges over to completely cover it.
Gently flatten with a rolling pin.
Roll out to about ⅓ inch thick.
Keep it in an oblong shape.
Fold it in thirds (this is called a turn).
Roll out again.
Fold as before.
Let it rest on ice for 10 minutes.
Repeat the turning process three to four more times.
Allow it to rest for 10 minutes between each turn.
Roll out.
Use as needed.
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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Walnut + lemontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,149 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + walnuttop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,873 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + walnuttop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,832 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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 gluten structure that holds the layers of the paste together.
- Butter (for laminating)
- Forms separate layers that turn to steam in the oven and lift the dough.
- Cold water
- Hydrates the flour so it forms a smooth, workable paste.
The step that matters
Keeping the butter and dough cold while folding. If the butter softens and blends into the dough, the separate layers are lost and the pastry will not puff. Resting on ice between turns keeps the butter firm enough to stay in distinct sheets.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, walnut):
- Raisinfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, walnut. 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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