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 ↓
Cottage Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a bowl, mix the milk with baking soda.
In another bowl, combine flour, cream of tartar, and salt.
Cream the butter and add the eggs, then mix in the milk.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture.
Bake and serve
Pour the batter into a greased baking dish and bake for 45 minutes.
Once baked, let it cool before slicing into three layers.
Spread tart sauce or berries between the layers and stack them.
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 + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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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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Egg + flourtop 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
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as they set during baking.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the cream of tartar to release gas and lift the batter.
- Cream of tartar
- Provides acid that activates the baking soda, helping the cake rise and turn tender.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure that sets as the cake bakes.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a tender crumb.
- Milk
- Supplies moisture that hydrates the flour and dissolves the leavening.
The step that matters
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Adding flour in stages and mixing gently keeps the batter smooth and lumps out. Overmixing once flour is in develops gluten, which can make the cake tough.
“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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