Why it works: Milk and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,759 recipes. Both carry 1-hexanal, which smells fruit. The science ↓
Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the rib or sirloin roast for roasting.
When the roast is 45 minutes from being done, make the Yorkshire pudding batter.
Butter a pan similar to the one used for the roast and pour in the batter.
Place the pan in the oven and baste occasionally with beef drippings.
Cut the pudding into squares and garnish the beef with them.
To make the batter, beat the eggs very lightly, then add salt and milk.
Pour about ½ cup of the milk mixture onto the flour and baking powder, mixing until smooth, then add the remainder.
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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Milk + beeftop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,759 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + beeftop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together10,677 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Milk and flour 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
- Bind the batter and set during baking to give the pudding its structure.
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the gluten network that gives the pudding its body and framework.
- Milk
- Supplies liquid that turns to steam in the hot oven, helping the pudding rise and stay moist.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas when heated, lifting the batter so the pudding puffs up.
The step that matters
Mixing the flour into the milk mixture. Adding part of the liquid to the flour and baking powder first and mixing until smooth prevents lumps. Lumps leave dry pockets, and the batter needs an even texture to rise evenly.
“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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