Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 81,283 recipes mention both. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Scotch Woodcock
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Make a thin white sauce by melting the butter, then whisk in the flour and gradually add the milk.
Season the sauce with salt, cayenne, and anchovy essence.
Finish and serve
Finely chop the hard boiled eggs and add them to the sauce.
Serve as you would Welsh Rarebit.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + anchovytop 12% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together2,330 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + anchovytop 13% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together3,697 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour share little aroma chemistry, yet 124,287 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
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Provide the main body of the filling, adding substance and a soft, rich texture to the sauce.
- Butter
- Forms the fat base of the roux, carrying flavour and helping the sauce stay smooth.
- Flour
- Thickens the milk into a white sauce by gelatinising its starch as it cooks.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid of the white sauce, giving it body and a creamy mouthfeel.
- Anchovy essence
- Adds a savoury, salty depth of flavour to the sauce.
The step that matters
Make a thin white sauce by melting the butter, then whisk in the flour and gradually add the milk.. Adding the milk gradually while whisking keeps the flour evenly dispersed, so the sauce stays smooth rather than lumpy.
“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.
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