Why it works: Raisin and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Milk Porridge
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare the raisins
Boil the raisins in a little water for 20 minutes, then let the water boil away.
Make the porridge
Add the milk.
When boiling, add the flour mixed with a little cold milk to form a thin paste.
Boil for 8 to 10 minutes.
Season with salt.
Strain before serving.
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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Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Raisin + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,155 recipes
Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).
Flour and milk 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
- Raisins
- Add sweetness and a soft, chewy texture as they plump in the cooking liquid.
- Milk
- Forms the creamy liquid base that the porridge is built on and gives it richness.
- Flour
- Thickens the milk as its starch swells and sets when heated, giving the porridge body.
The step that matters
Mixing the flour into cold milk before adding it to the pot. Flour starch clumps when dropped into hot liquid dry or unmixed. Stirring it into a little cold milk first disperses the granules, so they thicken the porridge evenly and smoothly.
“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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