Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
London Buns
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 dough
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a bowl, mix the flour, sugar, and baking powder.
Add the butter and crumble until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Stir in the diced orange peel.
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and add them to the mixture, reserving 1 tablespoon.
Add enough buttermilk to wet the mixture, keeping it stiff.
Shape and bake
Grease a flat baking tin.
Take a piece of dough the size of an egg, roll it into a ball, and place it on the tin.
Repeat until all the dough is used, keeping the buns 2 inches apart.
Brush the tops with the reserved egg or milk and sprinkle with sugar.
Bake for about 30 minutes until light and golden.
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.
-
Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,634 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
-
Flour + buttermilktop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,721 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Sugar + buttermilktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,973 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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 buns as it binds with the liquids.
- Butter
- Rubbed into the flour to tenderise the crumb and add richness.
- Eggs
- Bind the dough and add moisture and richness to the buns.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking so the buns rise and become light.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the tops brown as the buns bake.
The step that matters
Keeping the dough stiff when adding buttermilk. Too much liquid makes the dough slack, so the buns spread and lose their shape. Adding buttermilk gradually lets you stop once the dough just holds together.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, sugar, egg, buttermilk, lemon):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Blueberryfits about as well
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, sugar, egg, buttermilk, lemon. 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.
You might also like
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Lemon Cake228 recipes
Lemon Ice147 recipes
Orange Cream Rice Pudding121 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.