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Eccles Cake

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Meat and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 34% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,866 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Eccles Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

  1. Roll out a sheet of pastry dough about ¼ inch thick to cover the baking plate.

  2. Roll out a second sheet of pastry dough the same size but slightly thicker.

  3. Spread the Banbury meat on the first sheet, about ¼ inch thick.

  4. Cover it with the second sheet, trim the edges, and mark the top into squares.

  5. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until done.

  6. Once baked, dust the top with powdered sugar.

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.

  1. Meat + sugartop 34% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,866 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

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