Name: Buns
Ingredients: 3 ounces oiled butter; a pinch of saffron; 1 pint warm milk; comfits for topping

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 ↓

Buns

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

3 ounces oiled butter
a pinch of saffron
1 pint warm milk
comfits for topping

Directions

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

Melt the oiled butter and mix in the saffron.
Combine the saffron butter with warm milk and let it sit in a warm place to rise.
Shape the mixture into buns.
Brush the buns with a little oiled butter.
Bake in a brisk oven at 400°F (200°C).
Sprinkle comfits over the buns before serving.

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).
Saffron + milktop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together319 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Butter + saffrontop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together581 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).