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 ↓
German Pudding, Baked
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.
Make the batter
In a saucepan, combine the milk and lemon rind.
Let the mixture sit by the fire to infuse the lemon flavor.
When warm, stir in the butter until melted and let it cool slightly.
Mix the flour with a little cold milk until smooth, then gradually add it to the milk and butter mixture.
Sweeten with sugar and add the beaten egg yolks and egg whites.
Bake and serve
Fill well-buttered cups three-quarters full with the mixture and bake at 350°F (175°C) until firm, about 30 minutes.
Combine the beaten eggs, sherry, and sugar in a saucepan.
Beat over heat until frothy.
Pour the frothy mixture around the baked puddings and serve immediately.
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.
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + sherrytop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,505 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
-
Milk + sherrytop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,479 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).
-
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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
- Thickens the milk mixture so the baked pudding sets firm rather than runny.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the custard and help it set, adding richness and a tender texture.
- Egg whites
- Add lightness and help the puddings rise and hold their structure when baked.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, tender texture to the batter.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the puddings and the frothy sauce.
The step that matters
Keep the flour smooth before adding it. Flour added without first being mixed into cold milk clumps into lumps that stay in the batter. Smooth flour in cold liquid hydrates evenly, so the baked pudding sets with a uniform texture.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, butter, flour, sugar, egg, sherry):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, flour, sugar, egg, sherry. 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.
More german pudding recipes
You might also like
Lemon Cake228 recipes
Lemon Ice147 recipes
Lemon Sherbet103 recipes
Lemon Custard64 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.