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 ↓
Sponge Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Combine one-fourth cup sugar, one-fourth cup butter, one-half cup flour, five eggs, and one pint boiled milk.
Mix sugar and flour, wet with a little cold milk and stir into boiling milk.
Cook until it thickens and is smooth.
Add butter and, when well mixed, stir it into the well-beaten yolks.
Add the whites beaten stiff, a little salt, and flavoring extract to taste.
Bake and serve
Bake in a shallow dish set in a pan of hot water about thirty minutes in a moderate oven, until perfectly set and brown.
Serve with creamy sauce.
Make the sauce
Cream a heaping tablespoon of butter with half a cup of sugar, add a little cream and mix smooth over hot water.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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. See the original page.
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).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 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
- Yolks thicken the custard and whites, beaten stiff, lighten it and help it rise and set.
- Flour
- Starch thickens the milk mixture so the pudding holds its body when baked.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard and gives a soft, tender texture.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, tender mouthfeel to the custard.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps it brown in the oven.
The step that matters
Stirring flour into boiling milk. Flour lumps unless it is first wetted with cold milk and stirred in gradually; cooking until thickened lets the starch swell and gives the custard a smooth body.
“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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