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).
Make the batter
In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.
Dissolve the baking soda in the milk and add it to the mixture.
In another bowl, combine the cream of tartar and flour.
Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients.
Beat in the egg until well combined.
Pour the batter into a greased baking dish.
Bake and serve
Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown.
Serve hot with sauce.
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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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).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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 fat and richness, giving the pudding a tender crumb and flavour.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the batter and helps it brown during baking.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the cream of tartar to release gas that makes the pudding rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Acts with the baking soda to produce lift and provides a slight tang.
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the main structure of the batter as it sets in the oven.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and adds structure and richness as it cooks.
The step that matters
Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Adding the dry mixture slowly and mixing only until combined keeps the batter from becoming overworked. Too much gluten development from flour can make the pudding tough and dense.
“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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