Name: Yorkshire Parkins
Ingredients: 4 oz. Butter; 1 lb. Flour; ½ lb. Oatmeal; ¼ oz. Baking Soda; 6 oz. Brown Sugar; 4 oz. Treacle; 1 oz. Mixed Spice; A little Buttermilk

Why it works: Flour and buttermilk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,721 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Yorkshire Parkins

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.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Rub the butter into the flour until well combined.

Make and shape the dough

Heat the treacle and mix it with enough buttermilk to form a soft dough.
Shape the dough into small, round, flat cakes.

Bake and glaze

Bake the cakes in the preheated oven.
Glaze with buttermilk and return to the oven for a few more minutes.

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.

Flour + buttermilktop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,721 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sugar + buttermilktop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,973 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Butter and flour 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: Provides the main structure that holds the cakes together as they bake.
Butter: Rubbed into the flour to add richness and a tender, crumbly texture.
Treacle: Adds sweetness, moisture and a dark colour to the dough.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acidic treacle and buttermilk to lift and lighten the cakes.
Buttermilk: Moistens the dough and its acidity reacts with the baking soda to help it rise.
Oatmeal: Adds a nutty texture and body to the dough.

“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.