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 ↓
Puff Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Mix 2 cups of flour with 2/3 cup of butter and 2 cups of sugar.
Dissolve 3 teaspoonfuls of good baking powder in 1 cup of milk, 1 teaspoonful of lemon essence, and half a nutmeg.
Beat 4 eggs, reserving the whites of 2 for frosting, then mix all together.
Bake and finish
Bake in a quick oven.
Frost the top with the reserved whites, well beaten, with a small quantity of powdered sugar.
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 |
| 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).
-
Flour + buttertop 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).
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, 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
- Forms the main structure that holds the pudding's crumb together as it bakes.
- Butter
- Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and carries flavor.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps keep it tender and lightly browned.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, and their whites give the frosting its body.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking so the pudding rises and becomes light.
- Milk
- Supplies moisture that hydrates the flour and loosens the batter.
The step that matters
Bake in a quick oven. Baking powder starts releasing gas as soon as it meets liquid, so the batter should go into a hot oven promptly. A slow oven lets the bubbles escape before the structure sets, leaving a flat, dense pudding.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, milk, butter, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, milk, butter, 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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