Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓
Pudding Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Beat the sugar and butter together until well combined.
Beat the egg in a separate bowl and mix it in.
Boil the milk and cornstarch together, then combine with the egg mixture before serving.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,685 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together24,377 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base, which the cornstarch thickens when heated.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the milk as it boils, giving the sauce body.
- Egg
- Adds richness and body to the sauce.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, mellow mouthfeel.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the sauce and dissolves smoothly into the butter.
The step that matters
Combining the egg with the hot milk mixture. Hot liquid can scramble egg if added too quickly. Adding the hot mixture gradually while whisking gently warms the egg, keeping the sauce smooth.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, butter, egg, sugar, wine):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegthe original
- Tarragonfits less well
- Gingerfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, egg, sugar, wine. 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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