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
The book says “a quick oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, pour scalding hot milk over the flour.
Beat the egg yolks until light and add them to the mixture.
Gently fold in the beaten egg whites.
Bake and serve
Pour the mixture into a pudding dish and bake for 30 minutes.
Serve with sugar and cream or a sauce of your choice.
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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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, 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
- Eggs
- Whipped whites trap air for rise, while yolks enrich the custard and help it set.
- Flour
- Its starch thickens with the hot milk and gives the pudding a set structure as it bakes.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour starch and supplies the moisture that turns to steam for lift.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten egg whites. Beaten whites hold air bubbles that make the pudding rise. Stirring or folding too vigorously deflates them, so the pudding bakes flat and dense. Fold gently, just until no white streaks remain.
“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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