Name: Cakes and Muffins
Ingredients: ½ teaspoon ground cloves; 1 tablespoon lemon juice; ½ pound seeded raisins, chopped and floured

Why it works: Clove and raisin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,070 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Cakes and Muffins

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

½ teaspoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ pound seeded raisins, chopped and floured

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.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, combine the ground cloves, lemon juice, and chopped raisins.
Mix until well combined.
Pour the mixture into a baking dish.
Bake until nicely browned.

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.

Clove + raisintop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,070 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Clove + lemontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,150 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Lemon + raisintop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,742 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).