Why it works: Flour and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Yorkshire Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Sift the flour and measure it.
Add the salt and the unbeaten egg yolks to the flour.
Mix in a little of the milk to form a smooth paste.
Gradually add the rest of the milk and mix well.
Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks and gently fold them into the batter.
Bake and serve
Pour the batter into a roasting pan 45 minutes before the roast is done.
Serve hot with the roast beef, removing excess fat from the pan if the roast is very fatty.
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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Flour + milktop 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).
Flour and milk 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
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the main structure that holds the risen batter together.
- Eggs
- Yolks add richness and whites trap air that helps the pudding rise.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that turns the flour into a pourable batter and adds tenderness.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten egg whites. The whites hold air bubbles that lift the batter as it bakes. Folding gently keeps those bubbles intact, while stirring vigorously would deflate them and leave a denser pudding.
“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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