Why it works: Milk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Yorkshire Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the batter
In a bowl, combine the flour and salt.
Make a well in the center, crack in the eggs, and stir, gradually mixing in the flour.
Add the milk gradually until a thick, smooth batter forms.
Beat the batter well for 10 minutes.
Add the remaining milk, cover, and let it rest for at least 1 hour.
Bake
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) and coat the bottom of a pudding tin with a thin layer of dripping.
Place the tin in the oven to heat the dripping.
Beat the batter again before pouring it into the hot tin.
Bake for 10 minutes to partially cook the bottom, then continue cooking until set and well browned.
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 + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + meattop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,703 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Egg + meattop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,432 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Provide structure and help the batter set and puff as it bakes.
- Flour
- Forms the body of the batter, giving the pudding its structure as it sets.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and, as steam, helps the batter rise in the hot fat.
- Dripping
- Heated fat in the tin that sears the batter, helping it rise and brown.
The step that matters
Heat the dripping until very hot before pouring the batter. The batter must hit smoking-hot fat so its outer layer sets quickly and steam pushes it upward. Cold fat or a cool tin makes the pudding flat and greasy.
“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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