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 ↓
Blackberry 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.
Prepare the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cream the butter.
Gradually add the brown sugar and the egg yolks; beat until very light.
Beat the egg whites to a stiff froth.
Alternately add the egg whites and flour to the butter mixture.
Gently stir in the blackberries.
Bake and serve
Pour the batter into a buttered pudding dish.
Bake for 1.5 hours.
Serve hot with wine sauce or 'Fairy Butter.'
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).
-
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Butter + sugartop 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
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar to trap air and give a rich, tender crumb.
- Brown sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and adds moisture and a caramel-like depth.
- Eggs
- Yolks enrich the batter; whipped whites give lift and a light, airy structure.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that sets the pudding as it bakes.
- Blackberries
- Add fruit moisture, tartness and color throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Alternately add the egg whites and flour to the butter mixture. Folding gently keeps the whipped egg whites from deflating. Overmixing develops gluten in the flour and makes the pudding dense rather than 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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