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 ↓
Boiled Flour Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a bowl, combine the milk and enough flour to thicken the mixture.
Add the salt and the yolks of the eggs, mixing well.
Stir in the dissolved saleratus and the butter.
Gently fold in the beaten egg whites.
Boil and serve
Pour the mixture into a greased mold or bag.
Boil in a pot of boiling water for 1 hour, ensuring the mold is floured inside.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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
- Eggs
- Yolks enrich the batter, while the beaten whites add lightness and help the pudding set.
- Flour
- Starch thickens the milk mixture and gives the pudding its body as it cooks.
- Saleratus (baking soda)
- Reacts with the batter to release gas, helping the pudding rise and turn lighter.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the flour thickens and the eggs set into a custard-like texture.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten egg whites. Whites hold air only if they are folded in gently; stirring vigorously deflates the foam, leaving a denser pudding instead of a light one.
“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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