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Dessert

Rich Cherry Cobbler

A fruit-filled pastry with a buttery crust and sweet cherry filling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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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 ↓

Rich Cherry Cobbler

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the dough

  1. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar.

  2. Cut in shortening with a mixing spoon or spatula.

  3. Beat the egg lightly and pour into a measuring cup.

  4. Add enough sweet milk to the egg to make ⅔ cup.

  5. Combine the liquid mixture with the dry ingredients, stirring briskly.

  6. Roll out the dough on a floured board to the thickness of pie crust.

Assemble the cobbler

  1. Line a deep pan with the crust.

  2. In a separate bowl, mix together cherries, 4 tablespoons flour, and 1½ cups sugar.

  3. Place the cherry mixture in the lined pan and dot with 2 tablespoons of butter.

  4. Roll out another thickness of dough for the top cover.

  5. Bring the edges of the under-crust dough over the top covering.

  6. Make air slits in the top crust.

Bake

  1. Bake in a hot oven (400°F) for the first 10 minutes, then reduce to moderate oven (350°F) for the remaining time.

  2. Bake longer if using fresh cherries.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 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
Gives the crust its structure and helps thicken the cherry juices.
Shortening
Coats the flour to keep the crust tender and flaky.
Baking powder
Releases gas as it heats, helping the crust rise and lighten.
Egg
Binds the dough and adds richness to the crust.
Cherries
Supply the fruit filling and juices that cook down under the crust.
Butter
Adds richness and flavor to the cherry filling.

The step that matters

Combining the liquid and dry ingredients. Mix only until the dough just comes together. Stirring for too long develops gluten in the flour, which makes the crust tough rather than tender.

“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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