Why it works: Flour and butter 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 ↓
Bakewell Tart
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the filling
Cream the butter, sugar, and eggs together until well combined.
Sift in the baking powder and flour, then add the ground rice.
Mix everything together to form a soft paste, adding a little milk if needed.
Assemble and bake
Line two tart pans with puff pastry and cover with a layer of raspberry jam.
Spread the mixture over the jam and bake in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C) for 30 to 45 minutes.
Finish and serve
Once baked, cut into squares and dust the top with caster sugar.
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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Flour + buttertop 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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Rice + raspberrytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together201 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Rice + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,645 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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
- Butter
- Creams with sugar and eggs to give the paste richness and a tender crumb.
- Eggs
- Bind the paste and set during baking to give structure.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps cream the butter into a light base.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the main structure of the soft paste as it bakes.
- Ground rice
- Adds a slightly sandy, tender texture to the paste.
- Raspberry jam
- Adds fruity sweetness and acidity that contrasts with the rich paste.
The step that matters
Spreading the mixture over the jam. The paste should be spread gently so the jam layer stays intact beneath it. Even coverage gives an even bake, since the paste sets as it heats and uneven thickness can leave parts underbaked or dry.
Swap the raspberry
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, rice, egg, sugar, butter):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Raspberrythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, rice, egg, sugar, butter. 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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