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 ↓
Plain 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.
Make the batter
Separate the eggs and beat the yolks in a bowl.
Gradually mix in the flour, alternating with the beaten egg whites.
Add the fresh milk and baking soda, mixing until smooth.
Bake
Pour the mixture into a greased baking dish.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until set.
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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Flour + milktop 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).
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Egg + milktop 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
- Eggs
- Yolks enrich the batter, and beaten whites add airy structure that helps the pudding set.
- All-purpose flour
- Starch gives the pudding body and structure as it heats and firms.
- Fresh milk
- Supplies the liquid that moistens the batter and sets into a tender custard-like texture.
The step that matters
Gradually mix in the flour, alternating with the beaten egg whites. Adding flour slowly, in alternation with the whites, keeps the batter smooth without lumps and avoids deflating the beaten whites. Those whites trap air that gives the baked pudding its lightness, so overmixing or dumping in the flour all at once can leave the texture dense or uneven.
“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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