Why it works: Egg and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Cream 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 the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, combine sweet cream, sour cream, and eggs.
Add enough flour to create a thin batter.
Dissolve the baking soda in a little water or sour milk and mix it in.
Add a pinch of salt.
Bake and serve
Pour the mixture into a baking dish and bake for 1 hour.
Serve hot with a rich wine 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.
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.
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cream + flourtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
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Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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 help set the pudding as it bakes.
- Flour
- Provides structure by thickening the batter so the pudding holds its shape.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidity of the sour cream to lift and lighten the pudding.
- Sour cream
- Adds acidity and richness, and tenderizes the texture.
- Sweet cream
- Adds fat and moisture for a rich, smooth texture.
The step that matters
Dissolving the baking soda. Baking soda must be fully dissolved and mixed evenly into the batter so it reacts with the acidic sour cream and lifts the pudding uniformly. Clumps can leave bitter or uneven pockets.
“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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