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 ↓
Pudding Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
In a bowl, beat together the powdered sugar and butter until well combined.
In another bowl, beat the egg until well mixed.
Make the sauce
In a saucepan, boil the milk and cornstarch together until thickened.
Combine the milk mixture with the sugar and butter mixture, then add the beaten egg and wine.
Serve warm, sprinkled with nutmeg.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Butter + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,685 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together24,377 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the milk into a smooth sauce when heated.
- Egg
- Adds richness and helps bind and thicken the sauce.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the sauce and dissolves easily into the butter.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a smooth, rich mouthfeel.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that thickens into the sauce.
The step that matters
Adding the beaten egg to the warm milk mixture. If the egg meets very hot liquid all at once it can scramble. Combining it gently with the sauce keeps it smooth and evenly thickened.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, butter, egg, sugar, wine):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegthe original
- Tarragonfits less well
- Gingerfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, egg, sugar, wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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