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 ↓
Cherry Pudding
Ingredients
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.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a bowl, beat the egg until light, then gradually add the sugar.
Mix in the melted butter.
Dissolve the baking soda in a little warm water and add it to the sour milk.
Combine the sour milk mixture with the batter alternately with the flour until smooth.
Fold in the pitted cherries.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased baking dish and bake for 45 minutes.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour 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
- Flour
- Builds the structure of the pudding as its proteins and starch set in the oven.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and moisture as they set.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity reacts with the baking soda and adds moisture and tang.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the sour milk to release gas that lightens the batter.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the pudding brown and stay tender.
- Cherries
- Add fruit flavour, tartness and moisture pockets throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Combine the soured milk and baking soda with the flour until smooth. Baking soda must meet the acid in the sour milk to release gas for lift. Stirring only until smooth keeps the batter tender, since overmixing develops gluten and makes the pudding tough.
“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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