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 ↓
Farina Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the farina
Stir one cupful of farina into three cupfuls of boiling milk and cook for ten minutes.
Make the batter
Rub together one tablespoonful of butter and two tablespoonfuls of sugar.
Add the yolks of three eggs, the grated rind of one lemon, and twenty-five chopped blanched almonds.
Stir this mixture into the farina after it is a little cooled.
Add the whites of three eggs beaten to stiff froth.
Boil and serve
Boil this pudding in a covered mold for one and a half hours.
Serve with any pudding sauce.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Lemon | juice of 1 lemon (48ml) | 12 |
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.
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
-
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Farina
- Thickens the milk into a soft starch structure that holds the pudding together.
- Eggs
- Yolks enrich and bind the pudding, while beaten whites lighten its texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smoother, more tender mouthfeel.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps balance the flavor of the milk and lemon.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that the farina swells in, setting the base of the pudding.
The step that matters
Let the farina cool before adding the egg yolks. Stirring yolks into very hot starch can scramble them into lumps. Letting the farina cool a little lets the yolks blend in smoothly and keeps the custard texture even.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, butter, sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Coconutfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, sugar, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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