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 ↓
Pudding Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
In a bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.
Add the egg yolk and mix well.
Pour the boiling milk over the mixture and stir to combine.
Finish and serve
Beat the egg white to stiff peaks and fold it into the sauce.
Pour the sauce into a serving dish, flavor as desired, and serve.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Sugar
- Sweetens the sauce and helps cream with the butter to add body.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, creaming with sugar to trap air for a smoother texture.
- Egg yolk
- Thickens the sauce and adds richness as it combines with the hot milk.
- Boiling milk
- Provides the liquid base and heats the egg yolk to help thicken the sauce.
- Egg white
- Whipped to stiff peaks, it lightens the sauce and adds volume.
The step that matters
Adding the boiling milk. Pouring boiling milk into the mixture too fast or without stirring can heat the egg yolk unevenly, causing lumps or curdling. Stir steadily while pouring so the yolk warms gradually and the sauce stays smooth.
“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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