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 ↓
Whortleberry 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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare and mix the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Stir in the milk and wine.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and grated nutmeg.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, mixing until just combined.
Fold in the whortleberries or blackberries.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased baking dish and bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
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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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, 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
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, binding the batter as they set in the oven.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the main structure as its proteins set during baking.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and, creamed with butter, helps trap air for a lighter crumb.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and flavor, and helps hold air when creamed with sugar.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with acidic wine to release gas, helping the pudding rise.
- Whortleberries or blackberries
- Add fruit moisture, tartness and color throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, mixing until just combined.. Once flour meets liquid, gluten begins to form; overmixing makes the pudding tough and dense, so stop as soon as no dry flour remains.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, flour, sugar, butter, milk, wine):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegthe original
- Tarragonfits less well
- Jalapenofits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, flour, sugar, butter, milk, wine. 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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