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 ↓
Orange 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.
Assemble
Peel and slice the oranges, then lay them in the bottom of a baking dish and sprinkle with sugar.
In a bowl, mix the butter, sugar, eggs, milk, and baking soda.
Add enough flour to create a thin batter and pour it over the oranges.
Bake
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until set, like a cake.
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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 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
- Eggs
- Set the batter as it bakes, giving the pudding structure and a tender, custard-like body.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a soft, tender crumb.
- Flour
- Provides starch and gluten that give the batter body and hold the pudding together.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with acid in the dish to release gas, helping the pudding rise and lighten.
- Oranges
- Add acidity and fresh flavour, and release juice that moistens the pudding.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps brown the top as it bakes.
The step that matters
Bake until set, like a cake. Eggs and starch set as the batter heats, so the pudding should firm at the edges and centre. Underbaking leaves it runny; overbaking makes it dry and tough.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, milk, flour):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, 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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