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 ↓
Delicious Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the custard
Thicken the milk with flour and simmer for 10 minutes.
Add sugar and butter, stirring until thoroughly mixed while hot.
When the mixture is half cold, add the beaten egg yolks.
Once entirely cold, fold in the beaten egg whites until stiff.
Flavor with lemon or vanilla.
Bake and serve
Bake in a 2-quart dish in a water bath at 400°F (200°C) for 30 minutes.
Serve with a differently flavored hard sauce.
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.
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 + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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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
- Thickens the milk into a smooth base for the custard.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the custard and help it set into a tender texture.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into the mixture to lighten it and give structure as it bakes.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, tender mouthfeel.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and adds body to the mixture.
The step that matters
Fold in the egg whites after the mixture is entirely cold. Warm mixtures deflate beaten egg whites and reduce their lift. Cooling first keeps the foam stable so the pudding stays light.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, flour, sugar, butter, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, flour, sugar, 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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