Why it works: Milk and flour 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 ↓
Pepper Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a bowl, combine the egg, chopped suet, sweet milk, salt, pepper, and baking powder.
Add enough flour to create a stiff batter.
Steam and serve
Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.
Steam for 1.5 hours.
Serve with roast beef.
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 + 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).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + peppertop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together26,984 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Milk and flour 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
- Egg
- Binds the batter and helps set the pudding's structure as it cooks.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender while steaming.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas that helps the pudding rise and become light.
- Flour
- Provides starch and gluten that give the pudding its body and set structure.
The step that matters
Adding enough flour to make a stiff batter. Flour sets the pudding's structure, so the batter must be stiff enough to hold its shape. Too little flour leaves the pudding loose and soggy, while too much makes it dense and heavy.
“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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