Name: Bannocks
Ingredients: 1 pound butter; 1¼ pounds brown sugar; 6 eggs; 1 teaspoon ginger; 1¼ pounds white Indian meal; 1¼ pounds flour

Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Bannocks

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

Cream the butter and brown sugar together.
Add the whipped eggs and ginger, mixing well.
Gradually incorporate the white Indian meal and flour.

Bake and cool

Bake in small cakes in cups or gem pans.
Leave the cakes in the pans until cold.

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 + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Ginger + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,564 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Butter and flour 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

Butter: Creamed with sugar to trap air and add richness and tender crumb.
Brown sugar: Creams with butter and adds sweetness, moisture and a caramel flavour.
Eggs: Whipped eggs add structure and lift to the batter and bind it together.
White indian meal: Corn meal that gives the cakes body, a coarse texture and a distinct flavour.
Flour: Provides structure so the cakes hold their shape after baking.