Name: To Mix Batter for Puddings
Ingredients: half pound of flour will make it firm enough to cut smoothly; four eggs to the half pound of flour will make it firm enough to cut smoothly; salt

Why it works: Flour and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

To Mix Batter for Puddings

Ingredients

half pound of flour will make it firm enough to cut smoothly
four eggs to the half pound of flour will make it firm enough to cut smoothly
salt

Directions

Make the batter

Put the flour and salt into a bowl and stir them together.
Whisk the eggs thoroughly.
Strain the eggs through a fine hair-sieve.
Add the eggs very gradually to the flour.
Beat the mixture well and lightly with the back of a strong wooden spoon.
Thin the batter with milk to a proper consistency after the eggs are added.

Finish and serve

Beat the whites of the eggs separately to a solid froth.
Stir the beaten whites gently into the mixture immediately before boiling or baking.
If fruit is added, make the batter thicker than when served plain.
Ensure the batter does not stick to the knife when served.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

533Calories

19 gProtein

6 gFat

96 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 3 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
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.

By Eliza Acton. 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.

Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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 the structure that sets the batter firm enough to cut smoothly.
Eggs: Provide structure and richness, and the whites add lightness when beaten to a froth.

The step that matters

Adding the eggs gradually to the flour. Adding eggs slowly and beating lightly lets the flour absorb them evenly, preventing lumps and a batter that is unevenly thick.

“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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To Mix Batter for Puddings