Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Cottage 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
Cream the butter and sugar together.
Add the beaten eggs and mix well.
Stir in the milk, raisins, and flour mixed with baking powder.
Pour the batter into a greased baking dish.
Bake and serve
Bake for 45 minutes and serve hot with any kind of 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.
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 + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Vanilla + raisintop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together782 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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 add structure as they set in the oven.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the pudding as the batter sets.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the oven so the pudding rises and stays light.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown.
- Milk
- Supplies moisture that hydrates the flour and loosens the batter.
The step that matters
Stir in the flour and baking powder with the milk and raisins. Mixing too vigorously after the flour is added develops gluten, which can make the pudding tough. Stir just until the flour is evenly moistened so the batter stays tender.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, egg, flour, vanilla, butter):
- Figfits about as well
- Raisinthe original
- Coconutfits about as well
- Blueberryfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, egg, flour, vanilla, butter. 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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