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 ↓
Hasty Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the pudding
Boil water in a pot.
Gradually add flour to the boiling water, stirring continuously.
Cook until the mixture thickens.
Finish and cool
Remove from heat and stir in butter and brown sugar until melted and combined.
Pour the mixture out of the pot to cool.
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).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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
- Its starch thickens the boiling water into a firm, smooth pudding.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a rich, smooth mouthfeel and a softer bite.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and a caramel-like depth of flavour.
The step that matters
Gradually add flour to the boiling water, stirring continuously. Flour starch clumps when dumped into hot liquid, because the outer layer of each granule hydrates and seals the dry centre. Adding it slowly while stirring separates the particles so they swell evenly and the pudding stays smooth rather than lumpy.
“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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