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 ↓
Batter 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.
Make the batter
Mix the flour carefully with a little milk to avoid lumps.
Add the remaining milk, eggs, baking soda, and salt, and mix well.
Pour the mixture into a greased baking dish.
Bake and serve
Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 20 minutes.
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.
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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).
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 richness as they set during baking, helping the pudding hold its shape.
- Flour
- Provides the starch and protein that set with the eggs and milk to form the pudding's body.
- Milk
- Supplies the liquid that hydrates the flour and creates moisture and a tender texture.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with acidity in the batter to produce gas, helping the pudding rise and become lighter.
The step that matters
Mix the flour with a little milk first. Flour clumps when it meets liquid all at once. Blending it smoothly with a small amount of milk first lets the starch hydrate evenly, so the batter stays lump-free and sets with a uniform texture.
“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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