Name: A Batter and Fruit Pudding
Ingredients: two quarts of milk; one pound of flour; eight ounces of sugar; one quart of fruit; one ounce of butter; a good pinch of salt; four eggs; salt

Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓

A Batter and Fruit Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

Mix flour, eggs, sugar, salt, and a pint of milk in a basin or pan with a spoon until smooth.
Add the remainder of the milk and work the batter thoroughly.

Assemble and bake

Pour the batter into a large pie dish greased with butter.
Add the fruit.
Bake the pudding for an hour and a-quarter.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

833Calories

27 gProtein

26 gFat

120 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 7 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

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
Fruit	not in our table	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Charles Elme Francatelli. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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.

Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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: Provides structure as it sets the batter into a firm, tender pudding.
Eggs: Bind the batter and help it set as it bakes.
Milk: Hydrates the flour and gives the batter its liquid body and moisture.
Butter: Greases the dish so the pudding releases cleanly and adds richness.
Sugar: Sweetens the batter and promotes gentle browning on the surface.

The step that matters

Working the batter thoroughly. Mixing the flour into the milk and eggs until smooth prevents lumps and dry pockets. Well-hydrated flour sets evenly, giving a uniform texture rather than a patchy one.

“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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A Batter and Fruit Pudding