Name: Small Vols-au-vents, a LA Howitt
Ingredients: pint of boiling cream or a mixture of cream and new milk; 2 ounces pounded sugar; 1½ ounces fresh butter, cut small or clarified; 1 ounce flour; 3 yolks of eggs; store-flavoring or grated lemon rind; 1½ ounces ratifias, crushed

Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Small Vols-au-vents, a LA Howitt

Ingredients

pint of boiling cream or a mixture of cream and new milk
2 ounces pounded sugar
1½ ounces fresh butter, cut small or clarified
1 ounce flour
3 yolks of eggs
store-flavoring or grated lemon rind
1½ ounces ratifias, crushed

Directions

In a clean saucepan, combine the boiling cream or cream and milk mixture and stir over low heat until thick.
Remove from heat and stir well, then return to low heat and let simmer for 6 to 8 minutes.
Pour into a basin and immediately add pounded sugar, butter, and store-flavoring or lemon rind.
Mix in crushed ratifias for added flavor.
Prepare small vols-au-vents as directed, ice the edges with sifted sugar, and melt with a heated shovel for a glaze.
Fill the vols-au-vents with the prepared cream and serve immediately.

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.

Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, sugar, butter, flour, egg):

Vanillafits better
Raisinfits better
Coconutfits about as well
Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, sugar, butter, flour, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Lemon Cake228 recipes

Lemon Ice147 recipes

Lemon Sherbet103 recipes

Lemon Custard64 recipes

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Small Vols-au-vents, a LA Howitt