Name: Tea Cakes
Ingredients: 4 lbs household flour; 1 cake yeast; 1½ oz lard; 1 pint milk; ½ tablespoon sugar; 1 teaspoon sugar (for glazing); 1 teaspoon butter (for glazing); 1 teaspoon milk or water (for glazing)

Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓

Tea Cakes

Oven, in the book's wordsA good oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a good oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the dough

Mix the yeast and sugar to a cream.
Melt the lard and mix it with the tepid milk, then add this mixture to the yeast.
Mix everything well.
Let it stand in a warm place for 30 minutes.
Knead thoroughly.
Add more milk if necessary.
Let it stand for another 30 minutes.
Knead again.

Shape and bake

Shape into buns.
Let the buns stand for 30 minutes.
Bake in a good oven at 400°F (200°C) for 20 minutes.

Glaze

If desired, boil the glaze mixture of 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 teaspoon butter, and 1 teaspoon milk or water.
Apply the glaze to the buns with a brush.

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.

Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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).
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

Household flour: Forms the gluten network that gives the tea cakes their structure and chew.
Yeast: Ferments the dough, producing gas that makes it rise and become airy.
Lard: Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and gives a softer bite.
Milk: Provides moisture that hydrates the flour and helps form the dough.
Sugar: Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and browning in the baked buns.