Name: Baked Flour Pudding
Ingredients: 1½ pints buttermilk; 1 cup cream (or 1 quart buttermilk if no cream available); 4 eggs; 2 teaspoons saleratus (baking soda); flour (enough to make a batter)

Why it works: Buttermilk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,721 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Baked Flour Pudding

Ingredients

1½ pints buttermilk
1 cup cream (or 1 quart buttermilk if no cream available)
4 eggs
2 teaspoons saleratus (baking soda)
flour (enough to make a batter)

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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare the batter

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, mix the buttermilk and cream.
Add the eggs and saleratus to the mixture.
Gradually add flour until a batter forms.
Pour the batter into a greased baking dish.

Bake and serve

Bake for about 30‑40 minutes or until set.
Serve warm with cream and sugar or your choice of sauce.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Buttermilk + flourtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,721 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Buttermilk + creamtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together674 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Cream + flourtop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together30,481 recipes

Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked 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: Provide structure by setting and binding the batter as it bakes.
Saleratus (baking soda): Reacts with the acidic buttermilk to release gas, helping the pudding rise.
Buttermilk: Adds acidity that activates the saleratus and gives a tender, moist crumb.
Flour: Forms the body of the batter, setting into the pudding's structure as it bakes.

“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.