Name: Scotch Scones or Teacakes
Ingredients: ½ pound all-purpose flour; 2 tablespoons butter; ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt'); ¼ teaspoon tartaric acid; ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar; ¼ teaspoon baking soda; ½ cup milk

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 ↓

Scotch Scones or Teacakes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the dough

In a bowl, mix the flour, salt, tartaric acid, and cream of tartar.
Rub the butter into the flour until well combined.
Warm the milk slightly and dissolve the baking soda in it.
Pour the milk mixture into the flour and knead lightly to form a firm dough.
Shape the dough into a large round cake.

Cook and serve

Place the cake in a thick, un-tinned, round iron frying pan over low heat to bake.
While baking, cut the cake into four triangular pieces.
When one side is done, turn the pieces to cook the other side.
Serve hot or cold, with or without butter.

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).
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).
Cream + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together29,399 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

All-purpose flour: Forms the structure of the dough that holds the scones together.
Butter: Rubbed into the flour to add tenderness and richness to the crumb.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acids in the dough to produce gas that lifts the scones.
Cream of tartar: Acid that reacts with the baking soda to help the scones rise.
Tartaric acid: Acid that reacts with the baking soda, adding to the rise and a slight tang.
Milk: Moistens the flour and dissolves the baking soda so it can react through the dough.

The step that matters

Cooking the cake over low heat. Cooking slowly over low heat lets the centre set and rise through before the outside browns too far. Turning the pieces only once one side is done ensures both faces cook evenly without burning.

“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.

White Cake431 recipes

Pound Cake373 recipes

Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes

Spice Cake344 recipes

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The 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.

Scotch Scones or Teacakes