Name: Vanilla Cheesecakes
Ingredients: 2 eggs; ½ lb (2 sticks) butter; 1 lb castor sugar; ½ lb ground rice; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; jam (for spreading); puff pastry (for lining the tins)

Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Vanilla Cheesecakes

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Line 2 sandwich tins with puff pastry.
Spread a thin layer of jam on the pastry.

Make and bake

Beat the butter and sugar together until creamy.
Add the eggs, ground rice, and vanilla extract; mix well.
Divide the mixture evenly between the tins and spread it on top of the jam.
Bake in the preheated oven until golden.

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.

Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together35,032 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Rice + vanillatop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,352 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Butter + vanillatop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,050 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Butter + ricetop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,645 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Eggs: Bind the batter and help it set firm as it bakes.
Butter: Adds richness and tenderness through the creamed base.
Castor sugar: Sweetens the batter and helps create a creamy texture when beaten with butter.
Ground rice: Gives the filling a fine, slightly dense body as it sets.
Jam: Adds sweetness and fruity flavour between the pastry and the filling.