Name: Baba
Ingredients: 1 pound of flour; 6 eggs; 1 teaspoon of powdered saffron; 1 pound of currants; a little orange peel; a little lemon peel; a little citron; ½ pint of milk; ⅓ cup of brandy or rum

Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Baba

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.

In a bowl, lightly work the flour with your hands for about 10 minutes before adding the leaven.
Add the eggs and saffron to the flour and mix well.
Incorporate the currants, orange peel, lemon peel, and citron into the mixture.
Gradually mix in the milk and brandy or rum until well combined.
Butter a medium-sized mold or stewpan and place a band of paper around the sides.
Pour the batter into the prepared mold and let it rise for 2 to 3 hours, or until it nearly reaches the top of the mold.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden brown.

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.

Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,634 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Saffron + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together538 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Saffron + orangetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together185 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,057 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Flour + saffrontop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together447 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, egg, saffron, orange, lemon, milk, brandy):

Vanillafits better
Raisinfits better
Figfits better
Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, egg, saffron, orange, lemon, milk, brandy. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.