Name: Stra Wberry Short-cake
Ingredients: 1 quart sifted flour; 1 teaspoon salt; 4 ounces butter; Sugar to taste; 2 teaspoons baking powder; Milk as needed; 2 quart boxes strawberries; Cream for serving

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 ↓

Stra Wberry Short-cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the strawberries

Stem the strawberries, slightly mash them, and sweeten to taste. Set aside.

Make the dough

Rub the butter into the flour, which has been sifted with the baking powder, and add salt.
Add enough milk to make a soft dough that can be rolled out easily. Mix quickly and lightly.
Flour the board and rolling pin. Roll out the dough to ½ inch thick.
Divide the dough into 2 parts. Lay one layer in a large baking pan.
Dust the top with flour and place the second layer of dough over it.

Bake and assemble

Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for about 20 minutes.
When done, carefully separate the two layers of cake with a knife.
Place one layer on a platter, spread thickly with butter, then add a layer of sweetened strawberries.
Top with the second layer of cake, the remaining strawberries, and sugar.
Stand in the open mouth of the oven until ready to serve, with a pitcher of rich cream.

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).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 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

What each ingredient does

Flour: Forms the structure of the dough once moistened and baked.
Butter: Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and carries richness to the cake.
Baking powder: Releases gas during baking so the cake layers rise and stay light.
Milk: Hydrates the flour so the dough holds together and can be rolled.
Strawberries: Provide moisture, acidity and aroma that contrast with the sweet cake.