Why it works: Butter and milk 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).
In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.
Add the egg and mix well.
Make the batter
In another bowl, combine the flour, cream of tartar, and baking soda.
Dissolve the baking soda in the milk and add to the mixture.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients, then add nutmeg to taste.
Pour the batter into a greased baking dish.
Bake
Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
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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Butter + milktop 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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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 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
- Butter
- Adds richness and tenderness by coating flour and creating a soft crumb.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and adds structure and richness to the crumb.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure of the cake as its proteins set during baking.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the batter so it reacts with baking soda to produce rising gas.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the batter to release carbon dioxide, helping it rise.
- Milk
- Supplies moisture that hydrates the flour and helps form the batter's structure.
The step that matters
Dissolve the baking soda in the milk and add to the mixture. Baking soda must be fully dissolved and mixed in evenly, otherwise pockets of soda cause uneven rising and bitter spots. Mix promptly once combined with the acid so the gas is trapped in the batter before it escapes.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, flour, cream, milk):
- Nutmegthe original
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Capersfits less well
- Jalapenofits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, flour, cream, milk. 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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