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 ↓
Peach Pie
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.
Make the dough
Sift the flour into a deep bowl.
Chop in the lard until the mixture resembles sand.
Add ice water to form a stiff dough.
Roll out the dough into a thin sheet on a smooth surface.
Spread with 2 tablespoons of butter, fold, and roll again.
Repeat the butter spreading and rolling process.
Chill the dough in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
Roll the dough out into a thin sheet again.
Assemble the pie
Butter the bottom and sides of a 2-quart pudding dish.
Line the sides of the dish with the pastry.
Fill the dish with the halved peaches and sprinkle with sugar.
Cover the top with the remaining pastry.
Bake and serve
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden.
Serve cold with cream.
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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Butter + peachtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together860 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, 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).
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Peach + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,308 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the structure of the pastry as it binds with water and fat.
- Lard
- Coats flour particles so the pastry stays tender and forms flaky pockets.
- Unsalted butter
- Adds richness and flavor, and creates layers when folded into the dough.
- Ice water
- Hydrates the flour to form a dough, kept cold so the fat stays solid.
- Peaches
- Provide the fruit filling, with moisture and flavor that cook down in the pie.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the peaches and helps them brown lightly on the pastry edges.
The step that matters
Chop in the lard until the mixture resembles sand. Fat left in pieces the size of coarse sand creates flaky layers when baked. Overworking melts the fat into the flour, making the pastry tough and dense.
Swap the peach
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, sugar):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Peachthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, sugar. 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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