Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Cherry Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the crust
In a bowl, combine flour and nearly all the sugar.
Lightly break in the butter with your fingertips.
Add enough cold water to form a light, short crust.
Roll out the dough to fit your pie dish.
Assemble the pie
Pour the cherries into the pie dish and place a pie funnel in the center.
Cover with the crust, trim the edges neatly, and mark the pie with a floured knife.
Bake and finish
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 30 minutes.
When nearly done, brush the top with cold water and sprinkle with remaining sugar.
Return to the oven until fully baked.
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.
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the crust as it binds with water.
- Butter
- Fat rubbed into the flour makes the crust tender and short.
- Cherries
- Provide the main filling, with their juices moistening the pie as it bakes.
- Caster sugar
- Sweetens the crust and, sprinkled on top, helps the surface brown.
The step that matters
Adding the cold water to the crust. Too much water or warm water develops gluten and toughens the crust, while too little leaves it crumbly. Keeping the water cold keeps the butter solid, which helps the crust stay short and flaky.
“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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