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 ↓
Mulled Ale
Ingredients
Directions
Dredge a surface with flour and divide the dough into pieces weighing about 3 oz each.
Roll each piece into a round shape and place on a floured tray to rise.
Once risen, heat a hot plate and transfer the muffins one at a time onto a thin tin slice.
Cook one side until done, then flip and cook the other side.
Remove excess flour and cool the muffins on a clean cloth or sieve.
To toast, split the edge of each muffin about 1 inch deep.
Toast over a clear fire until browned on both sides, being careful not to burn.
Butter both sides of the toasted muffins, stack them, and cut into halves.
Serve immediately on a hot dish.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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).
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
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