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 ↓
Peach or Berry Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the batter
Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
Beat eggs, butter, and sugar together.
Add sour milk and baking soda, mixing well.
Stir in flour to create a stiff batter, beating until smooth.
Assemble and bake
Butter a baking pan and pour in half of the batter.
Layer sliced peaches or berries on top.
Pour the remaining batter over the fruit.
Bake until done, then serve with hot sauce.
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 + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Milk + peachtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together781 recipes
Shared aroma: phellandrene (minty).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + peachtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together860 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and give the pudding its structure as they set.
- Sour milk
- Adds acidity and moisture, reacting with the baking soda to lighten the batter.
- Baking soda
- Neutralizes the sour milk's acid, producing gas that helps the pudding rise.
- Flour
- Provides the body that turns the batter stiff and sets the pudding's crumb.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a tender texture.
- Peaches
- Add juiciness and fruity sweetness that soften into the pudding as it bakes.
The step that matters
Adding the baking soda to the sour milk. Baking soda must be matched to the milk's acidity. Too little leaves the batter flat and dense, while too much leaves a soapy, metallic taste and browns the crust unevenly.
Swap the peach
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, sugar, milk, flour):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits about as well
- Peachthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, sugar, milk, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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