Cottage Pudding

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.

1. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together27,232 recipes

   Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together81,283 recipes

   Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

3. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together11,466 recipes

   Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

4. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together124,287 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

5. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together22,662 recipes

   Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, 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

Flour

Provides the main structure that holds the pudding's crumb together.

Sugar

Adds sweetness and helps the frosting and top brown.

Butter

Adds fat for richness and a tender, moist texture.

Eggs

Yolks enrich and set the pudding, while whites form the frosting.

Bread

Soaked bread adds moisture and a soft, tender body.

Lemon

Its juice adds acidity and a bright aroma.

The step that matters

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, flour, bread, milk, egg):

1. Vanillafits better
2. Raisinfits better
3. Figfits better
4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, flour, bread, milk, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.