Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
How to Boil Puddings
Ingredients
Directions
Grease a pudding mold or bowl thoroughly with butter.
If using a mold, ensure it has a tight-fitting lid and secure it.
If using a bowl, cover it tightly with a flannel cloth that has been wrung out of hot water.
Dust the cloth with flour to help it adhere.
Fill the mold or bowl two-thirds full with pudding batter.
Prepare a pudding bag with felled seams, wring it out in hot water, and dust it with flour on both sides.
Place the pudding in the bag and tie it securely.
Bring a kettle of water to a boil and place the pudding in it, ensuring the water remains boiling.
Turn the bag or mold several times in the water to prevent sticking.
Ensure the bag is fully submerged; if using a mold, the water can be slightly below the top.
After boiling for the required time, remove the mold or bag and plunge it into cold water.
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 + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 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
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