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 ↓
Batter Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the custard base
Scald the milk in a saucepan.
Add the butter and flour, stirring until thick.
Let the mixture cool, then add the egg yolks and sugar.
Bake and serve
Fold in the beaten egg whites until well combined.
Pour into a baking dish and bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).
Serve with 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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Butter + flourtop 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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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour 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
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the pudding, giving it a soft, custardy body.
- Flour
- Thickens the milk mixture so it holds its shape and body while baking.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and help set the pudding into a tender, custard-like texture.
- Egg whites
- Beaten and folded in, they trap air that lifts the pudding as it bakes.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smooth, tender mouthfeel.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and contributes to browning on the surface.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten egg whites. Egg whites hold air only when beaten to stiff foam; overmixing them after folding deflates the foam, so the pudding bakes flat and dense instead of light and risen.
“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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