Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓
Fruit Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Place the fruit in a tin basin and sprinkle sugar over the fruit, then add a little water.
If using peaches, peel them and add the peeled peaches whole.
Make the crust
In a bowl, mix flour, butter or lard, salt, and baking powder, then add enough water or milk to form a dough.
Roll the dough out.
Steam and serve
Cover the fruit with the rolled-out crust.
Cover the basin with another two-quart basin to allow the crust to rise.
Set it on the stove to steam as the fruit cooks.
Serve with cream and sugar.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Peach + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together781 recipes
Shared aroma: phellandrene (minty).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Peach + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together860 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the dough structure that holds the crust together while it rises and steams.
- Butter or lard
- Adds fat that tenderises the crust and makes it flaky.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the dough, helping the crust rise while it steams.
- Fruit
- Provides the main flavour and moisture, which softens as it cooks under the crust.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the fruit and helps draw out its juices as it cooks.
The step that matters
Covering the basin to allow the crust to rise. The crust needs enclosed steam to rise and cook through. If the cover is loose, steam escapes and the crust may turn out dense and wet.
Swap the peach
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour, butter, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits about as well
- Peachthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour, butter, milk. 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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