Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓
Steam Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a large bowl, mix together molasses, sugar, sour milk, and melted butter.
Add the fruit, egg, flour, salt, and baking soda. Stir until well combined.
Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.
Steam
Steam for 3 hours, ensuring the water remains boiling throughout.
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 + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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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).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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
- Molasses
- Adds dark color, moisture and a deep, sweet flavor to the pudding.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the pudding together as it sets.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and helps give the pudding its set, tender crumb.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk and molasses to produce gas that lightens the batter.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity activates the baking soda and adds moisture and tang.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a tender texture.
The step that matters
Keeping the water boiling during steaming. Steaming relies on steady, high heat to cook the batter through evenly. If the water drops below boiling, the pudding cooks slowly and can turn out dense or undercooked in the centre.
“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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