Why it works: Flour and milk 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 ↓
Puff Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
In a bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Add milk gradually until the mixture is very soft.
Fill and steam
Grease cups and place them in a steamer.
Fill each cup with a spoonful of batter, then a spoonful of fruit, and top with more batter.
Steam for 20 minutes.
Serve
Serve with 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.
-
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and milk 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
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the main structure of the batter as it steams.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during steaming, helping the puddings rise and turn light.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour to form a soft batter that steams into a tender crumb.
- Fruit
- Adds moisture and sweetness inside each pudding as it cooks.
The step that matters
Adding milk gradually. Flour absorbs liquid at different rates, and a batter that is too wet or too stiff will steam unevenly. Adding milk little by little lets you reach a soft, pourable-yet-holding texture, which helps the puddings rise evenly.
“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 puff 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.