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 ↓
Orange Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Thinly pare the rind of the oranges and pound it finely in a mortar.
In a basin, combine the orange rind, sponge cakes, and butter.
Pour the boiling milk over the mixture.
Scoop out the inside of the oranges, strain the juice, and rub the pulp through a sieve over 3 more sponge cakes.
Soak the cakes, then beat both basins of cakes together.
In a separate bowl, beat 6 yolks and 2 whole eggs.
Mix the egg mixture with the cake mixture, candied orange peel, and sifted sugar to taste.
Place a rim of puff pastry around your dish, fill it with the pudding mixture, and garnish the top with candied orange peel.
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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Orange + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,696 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, milk, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Peachfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, milk, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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