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 ↓
Ramakin or Cheese Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Make the mixture
Mix the grated cheese with the flour.
Gradually stir in enough milk to moisten the cheese.
Add the beaten eggs and enough milk to achieve a cream‑like consistency.
Bake and serve
Half‑fill a buttered dish with the mixture and dot with small pieces of butter.
Bake for 15‑20 minutes until risen and golden.
Serve immediately after removing from the oven.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Cheese + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,426 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter 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
- Old cheshire cheese
- Provides the main flavour and, when melted, the rich body of the pudding.
- Eggs
- Set on baking to give the pudding its custard-like structure and help it rise.
- Flour
- Thickens the cheese mixture so it holds together rather than turning greasy.
- Milk
- Moistens the cheese and forms the creamy base that the eggs set into.
The step that matters
Serve immediately after baking. The pudding rises well in the oven but falls as it cools, because the egg structure loses steam and contracts. Serving straight from the oven keeps it light.
“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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