Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Marmalade Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a bowl, beat the eggs and mix in the sugar and butter until smooth.
Sift the flour with the baking powder and salt, then gradually add to the egg mixture.
Stir in the orange marmalade until well combined.
Steam and set
Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.
Steam for 1½ hours until set.
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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 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).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and help the pudding set into a firm, tender structure.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the pudding as it cooks.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas that lifts the batter, giving the pudding a lighter texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a softer, more tender crumb.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps keep the pudding moist.
- Orange marmalade
- Adds sweetness, citrus acidity and aroma throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Steam for 1½ hours until set. Steaming gently and for the full time lets the egg and flour structure set evenly. Lifting the lid or cooking too hot can cause uneven texture or a sunken, dense centre.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, flour):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, flour. 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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