Why it works: Flour and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Blackberry Pudding or Other Berries
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Put a little of the flour into the fresh berries.
Add salt, baking soda dissolved in sweet milk, and syrup or molasses to the remaining flour.
Stir to make a smooth batter.
Gently mix in the berries without breaking them.
Steam and serve
Pour the mixture into a buttered mold.
Place the mold in boiling water, ensuring the water does not reach the top of the mold.
Boil continuously for at least two hours.
Serve with boiled 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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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + syruptop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,540 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Milk + syruptop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,143 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the pudding together as it steams.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic syrup or molasses to lighten the batter as it cooks.
- Fresh berries
- Add moisture, color and fruity flavor throughout the pudding.
- Syrup or molasses
- Adds sweetness and depth of flavor, and helps the pudding brown and darken.
- Sweet milk
- Moistens the dry flour and dissolves the baking soda so it can react evenly.
The step that matters
Gently mix in the berries without breaking them. Crushed berries release juice and color the batter unevenly and make it wetter, so folding them in gently keeps the pudding tidy and evenly textured.
“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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