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 ↓
Raised Pies
Ingredients
Directions
Dissolve lard or butter in boiling water.
Mix in flour with a spoon until combined.
Knead the mixture with your hands to form a smooth paste.
Shape a lump of paste into a sugar loaf shape and place it upright on the table.
Flatten the sides evenly with your palms until smooth.
Squeeze the middle down to half the height and hollow the inside evenly with your fingers.
Fill the hollow with your choice of meat, then roll out a cover for the pie.
Seal the edges securely and make a hole in the center.
Decorate with a roll of paste around the hole and a wreath of leaves or other ornaments.
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.
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + meattop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,594 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Flour + meattop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,529 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
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