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 ↓
Batter Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Put the milk in a double boiler; when hot add the butter.
Let the milk boil; then add the flour, and beat it hard until it leaves the sides of the pan.
Remove from the fire and stir in gradually the eggs, which have been well beaten, the yolks and whites together, and a dash of salt.
Continue to beat the batter until it is no longer stringy.
Let the batter stand some time before baking if convenient.
Bake and serve
Turn it into a warm greased pudding-dish, and bake in a moderate oven thirty to thirty-five minutes.
It may be baked in gem-pans fifteen to twenty minutes if preferred.
Serve as soon as it is taken from the oven, or it will fall.
Serve with plain pudding or hard sauce.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 5 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 |
| 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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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
- Eggs
- Provide structure and lift, setting the batter as it bakes into a pudding.
- Flour
- Forms the starch base that thickens the batter and gives it body.
- Milk
- Supplies the liquid that turns to steam and moistens the finished pudding.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a tender, softer crumb.
The step that matters
Serve as soon as it is taken from the oven. The baked batter is held up mainly by steam and set egg proteins. As it cools the steam condenses and the structure collapses, so the pudding falls if left to wait.
“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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