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 ↓
Cherry Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
In a bowl, mix the flour and baking powder.
Stir in the sweet milk to form a stiff batter.
Fold in as many cherries as the batter can hold.
Steam and serve
Grease a mold and fill it no more than halfway.
Cover the mold and boil or steam for 2 hours or more.
Alternatively, boil in a floured pudding bag, leaving room for expansion.
Ensure the pudding boils continuously to avoid heaviness.
Serve with Hard Sauce or other sauces.
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.
-
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
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
- Bind the batter and add richness and structure as the pudding sets.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the pudding rises and turns light.
- Flour
- Forms the starch structure that holds the batter together as it cooks.
- Sweet milk
- Hydrates the flour and gives the batter its moisture and softness.
- Cherries
- Add fruity sweetness and moisture pockets throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Keep the pudding boiling continuously. If the water stops boiling or drops too low, the pudding cooks unevenly and turns heavy, because the batter needs steady heat to set and rise properly.
“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.
More cherry pudding recipes
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.