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Dessert

Scots Christmas Bun

A sweet yeast bread filled with raisins, currants, almonds, candied peel, and spices, baked into a round bun.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,038 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Scots Christmas Bun

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 the dough

  1. Rub the butter into the flour until well mixed.

  2. Add a little warm water and the yeast, then work into a light, smooth paste.

  3. Cut off nearly one-third of the paste and set it aside.

Shape the bun

  1. With the remaining paste, work in the fruit, sweetmeats, and spices, forming it into a round shape.

  2. Roll out the reserved paste, place the fruit mixture in the center, and gather the paste around it, sealing the edges with water.

  3. Turn the bun over and pierce it with a skewer from top to bottom, then prick the top with a fork.

  4. Double and flour a sheet of grey paper, place the bun on it, and bind a floured piece around the sides to maintain its shape.

Bake

  1. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).

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. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Raisin + almondtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  4. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Orange + gingertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,833 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Forms the structure that holds the dough and fruit together as it bakes.
Butter
Rubbed into the flour to add richness and a tender crumb.
Yeast
Produces gas that makes the paste rise and grow light.
Raisins
Add sweetness, moisture and chewy texture throughout the bun.
Currants
Add sweetness and moisture, along with concentrated fruit flavor.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, almond, orange, lemon, clove, pepper, ginger):

  1. Limefits better
  2. Cranberryfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, almond, orange, lemon, clove, pepper, ginger. 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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