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 ↓
Custard, Boiled
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Beat the yolks and whites of the eggs separately until well combined.
Mix the beaten eggs together and add the flour, milk, and salt.
Cook and serve
Pour the mixture into a prepared cloth and boil it.
For a thinner pudding, use 1 pint of flour, 1 quart of milk, and 8 eggs.
Serve hot with wine or cream 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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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
- Proteins set on heating, thickening the custard and giving it body.
- Flour
- Starch thickens with heat, giving the pudding a firmer, more stable texture.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard and adds richness and softness.
The step that matters
Boiling the mixture. Egg proteins set when heated and can curdle or turn lumpy if the mixture overheats or boils too hard. Keep the heat controlled and stir to keep the custard smooth.
“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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