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, 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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Separate the egg yolks and whites.
Make the batter
Beat the yolks and mix with milk, salt, and baking powder.
Gradually add the sifted flour and mix until smooth.
Fold in the beaten egg whites gently.
Bake and serve
Pour the batter into an earthen dish.
Bake for 45 minutes.
Serve with a rich sauce.
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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Egg + milktop 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
- Beaten whites trap air, and the yolks add richness and set the batter.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the pudding together as it bakes.
- Milk
- Supplies the liquid that hydrates the flour and gives the batter its moisture.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the oven, helping the pudding rise and become lighter.
The step that matters
Fold in the beaten egg whites gently.. The whites hold air that lifts the batter as it bakes. Vigorous stirring knocks that air out, leaving a denser, flatter pudding.
“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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