Name: Fruit Roly Poly
Ingredients: 4 tablespoons butter; 1 cup flour; 2 tablespoons baking powder; 1 teaspoon salt; 2 tablespoons shortening; ½ cup milk; 1 cup grape jam or other fruit

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 ↓

Fruit Roly Poly

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dough

Cream the butter and shortening together.
In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt.
Add the milk and combine until a dough forms.

Fill and roll

Roll the dough to ¾ inch thick and spread with grape jam.
Roll it up and place on a plate dusted with flour.

Steam and serve

Cover with a cloth and steam for 45 minutes.
Serve with sugar and cream or a sauce.

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).
Milk + grapetop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,682 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
Butter + flourtop 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).
Butter + grapetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,028 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

Flour: Forms the dough's structure so it holds together when rolled and steamed.
Baking powder: Releases gas during steaming, helping the dough rise and become light.
Butter: Adds fat that tenderizes the dough and contributes richness and flavor.
Shortening: Adds fat that keeps the dough tender and soft after steaming.
Milk: Provides moisture that hydrates the flour and forms the dough.
Grape jam: Adds sweetness and fruity flavor, along with moisture, inside the roll.