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Dessert

Batter Pudding

A deep-fried, then baked pudding made from eggs, milk, flour, sugar, cinnamon, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,287 recipes. Both carry 4-methoxybenzaldehyde, which smells sweet, anise. The science ↓

Batter 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 the custard

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Beat the eggs until light.

  3. In a saucepan, combine the milk and cinnamon and heat until just boiling.

  4. Stir in the sugar, corn starch, and flour (previously mixed with a few tablespoons of cold milk).

  5. Cook over medium heat for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

  6. Remove from heat and stir in the beaten egg yolks, then return to heat briefly to set the yolks.

  7. Remove the cinnamon stick, then stir in the butter and vanilla.

  8. Pour the mixture onto a buttered platter until about ⅓ inch high.

Coat and fry

  1. Once cooled and stiff, cut into rectangles about 3 inches long and 2 inches wide.

  2. Roll each piece in sifted cracker crumbs, then in slightly beaten and sweetened eggs, and again in cracker crumbs.

  3. Deep fry in boiling lard until golden brown, then place in the oven for 4-5 minutes.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Cinnamon + vanillatop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

  2. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Eggs
Beaten eggs and yolks thicken the custard and bind the pudding so it sets firm.
Corn starch
Thickens the milk mixture into a stiff custard that holds its shape when cut.
Flour
Adds body to the custard and helps it set firm enough to cut into pieces.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and contributes to browning during frying.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard that thickens as it cooks.

The step that matters

Cook the custard until it sets before pouring. Egg yolks must be heated briefly after being stirred in so they thicken without scrambling, and the custard must cool fully to become stiff enough to cut cleanly.

“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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