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Cheddar & Sweetcorn Scones

Savoury scones make a great meal with a bowl of soup, or a tasty addition to afternoon tea

By bbcgoodfood · From Open Recipes · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Sweetcorn and flour work together. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and 124 recipes mention both. The science ↓

The recipe

Makes 10
Prep15 min
Cook12 min

Ingredients

Contains: milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Heat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan, 425°F) and line a baking sheet with parchment.

  2. If using cobs, stand each one upright and slice the kernels off with a knife. Cook the kernels in a pan of boiling water for 3 minutes, then drain and cool. If using canned sweetcorn, drain it well.

  3. Sift the flour, baking powder, mustard powder and cayenne or paprika into a large bowl. Add the cubed butter and rub in with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs.

  4. Stir in half the grated cheddar, the thyme leaves and the sweetcorn.

  5. Mix the lemon juice into the milk and leave for 2 minutes to slightly thicken. Pour into the flour mixture and mix with a knife to a soft dough.

  6. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, pat to about 2.5cm (1 inch) thick and cut into rounds with a 6cm (2 1/2 inch) cutter, re-pressing the scraps once.

  7. Place the rounds on the lined sheet, brush the tops with a little extra milk, scatter over the remaining cheddar and sprinkle with a little extra cayenne or paprika.

  8. Bake for 12 minutes until risen and golden. Cool on a wire rack before serving.

By bbcgoodfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Sweetcorn + flourtop 11% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together124 recipes
  2. Thyme + lemontop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,973 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Butter + milktop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together81,222 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Mustard + thymetop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together913 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Flour + buttertop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together122,858 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter share little aroma chemistry, yet 122,858 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sweetcorn, flour, thyme, butter, milk, lemon):

  1. Potatobetter flavor fit
  2. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  3. Carrotbetter flavor fit
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sweetcorn, flour, thyme, butter, milk, lemon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).