Why it works: Flour and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Yorkshire Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the batter
Mix the flour, milk (or water), and baking powder together smoothly.
Add the beaten eggs last and mix well.
Pour the batter into a broad shallow pan.
Bake and serve
Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 20 minutes.
Cut into squares and serve with meat and gravy on top.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Flour + milktop 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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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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 main structure that sets as the pudding bakes.
- Eggs
- Help the batter rise and set, giving the pudding its firm, hollow body.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and richness, contributing to a tender interior and browned crust.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the oven, helping the batter puff up as it bakes.
The step that matters
Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 20 minutes. The batter needs a very hot oven so steam and gas expand it quickly before the flour and eggs set. Too little heat leaves the pudding flat, dense, and pale instead of risen and crisp at the edges.
“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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