Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓
Peach or Apple Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a rather quick oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Butter a baking dish.
Slice apples or peaches and fill the dish.
Make and bake the pudding
In a bowl, mix butter, egg, sugar, sweet milk, flour, and baking powder until smooth.
Pour the batter over the fruit.
Bake until golden brown.
Serve
Serve with cream and sugar.
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 + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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).
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
- Flour
- Forms the batter's structure as its starches set during baking.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and helps it set into a tender, cohesive crumb.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping it rise and become light.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps the top brown as it bakes.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a tender texture in the batter.
The step that matters
Bake until golden brown. Baking too briefly leaves the batter raw and gummy, while overbaking dries it out. Golden browning signals that the starches have set and the sugars have caramelized.
“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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