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Dessert

Strawberry Shortcake

A baked shortcake made with flour, butter, milk, baking soda, cream of tartar, salt, topped with strawberries and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 ↓

Strawberry Shortcake

Oven, in the book's wordsA good quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the dough

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. In a large bowl, rub the cream of tartar into the flour.

  3. Add the butter and salt, then mix well.

  4. Dissolve the baking soda in the milk and water, then add to the mixture.

  5. Mix thoroughly and roll out to 1 inch thick.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake for 20 minutes until golden.

  2. Once baked, divide the shortcake, butter it, and top with strawberries and sugar.

  3. Serve warm.

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.

  1. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Flour
Forms the main structure of the shortcake once mixed with liquid and baked.
Cream of tartar
Acidic powder that reacts with baking soda to help the shortcake rise.
Baking soda
Releases carbon dioxide when dissolved in acidic dough, lifting it as it bakes.
Butter
Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and gives a rich flavour.
Milk and water
Provides the liquid that hydrates the flour and dissolves the leavening.
Strawberries
Add fresh fruit acidity and sweetness that contrast with the rich shortcake.

The step that matters

Rolling the dough to 1 inch thick. Dough rolled too thin bakes dry and flat, while handling it too much develops gluten and toughens the crumb. Keep the mix just combined and roll gently to a consistent thickness so it rises evenly.

“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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