Name: Scones
Ingredients: 2 cups pastry flour; ⅓ cup castor sugar; 3 ounces butter; 1 teaspoon Frame Food extract; ¼ ounce carbonate of soda; ½ ounce cream of tartar; 1 pint milk, warmed

Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Scones

Oven, in the book's wordsA sharp oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a sharp oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Mix the flour, vanilla extract, sugar, and cream of tartar.
Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Shape

Dissolve the baking soda in the warmed milk and combine with the dry ingredients to form a light dough, handling it gently.
Divide the dough into four parts, roll each part out, and cut into four scones.

Bake and finish

Bake on a greased baking sheet in a 400°F (200°C) oven for about 20 minutes.
When almost done, brush the scones with a mixture of 1 teaspoon of tepid milk, a small piece of butter, and a lump of sugar.

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.

Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Pastry flour: Forms the structure that holds the scones together as they bake.
Butter: Rubbed into the flour to tenderize the crumb and add richness.
Carbonate of soda: Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar to release gas, helping the scones rise.
Cream of tartar: Acid that reacts with the soda to produce lift.
Milk: Hydrates the flour to form the dough and adds moisture.
Castor sugar: Sweetens the scones and promotes gentle browning.