Name: Custard Pudding
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon flour; 1 pint cream or whole milk; 1 tablespoon rose water; 1 ounce fresh butter, broken into small bits; pounded loaf sugar, to taste; a little grated nutmeg

Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Custard Pudding

Ingredients

1 tablespoon flour
1 pint cream or whole milk
1 tablespoon rose water
1 ounce fresh butter, broken into small bits
pounded loaf sugar, to taste
a little grated nutmeg

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

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, mix the flour, cream or milk, rose water, and butter.
Sweeten with pounded loaf sugar and add grated nutmeg.
Pour the mixture into a buttered dish.

Bake and serve

Bake for 30 minutes.
Before serving, sprinkle with pounded loaf sugar and garnish with thin slices of citron if desired.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,920 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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: Thickens the cream or milk as it bakes, giving the pudding a soft, set body.
Cream or whole milk: Forms the liquid base and, with the flour and butter, gives the pudding its richness and moisture.
Fresh butter: Adds fat for a richer, smoother texture and flavour.
Pounded loaf sugar: Sweetens the custard and adds a sweet finish on top.