Why it works: Flour and butter 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 ↓
Rolls and Scones
Ingredients
Directions
Roll the flour into round shapes and place them on a floured wooden tray to rise.
Once they have risen, ensure the hot plate is hot.
Transfer the muffins one at a time using a thin spatula, being careful not to deflate them.
Cook one side until done, then flip and cook the other side.
Remove excess flour and let the muffins cool on a clean cloth or sieve.
To toast, pull the edge of each muffin open about 1 inch.
Toast over a clear fire until one side is browned, then turn and toast the other side.
Do not toast too quickly to ensure the middle warms through.
Once toasted, butter both sides, reassemble, and cut in half.
Serve immediately on a hot dish.
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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 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
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