Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Peach Pudding
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).
Place the sliced peaches in a pudding dish and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of sugar.
Make and bake
In a bowl, mix 1 cup of sugar, 2 eggs, melted butter, milk, flour, and baking powder until smooth.
Pour the batter over the peaches.
Bake for about 45 minutes or until golden brown.
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 + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Peach + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together781 recipes
Shared aroma: phellandrene (minty).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Peach + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together860 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Peaches
- Provide the fruit base and moisture that softens during baking under the batter.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and help it set into a tender, custard-like structure.
- All-purpose flour
- Builds the body of the batter so the pudding holds its shape once baked.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping it rise and turn light.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and loosens the batter so it spreads evenly over the fruit.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, contributing to a tender crumb and browning.
The step that matters
Pour the batter over the peaches. The batter should be smooth and fully mixed before pouring, since lumps of flour or unmixed egg can bake unevenly and leave dense patches over the fruit.
Swap the peach
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, butter, milk, flour):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits about as well
- Peachthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, butter, milk, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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