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
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the batter
In a bowl, mix flour and salt.
Add enough milk to make a smooth, stiff batter.
Stir in the beaten eggs and enough more milk to achieve a soft custard consistency.
Beat the mixture well and pour it into a buttered shallow pan.
Bake
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 45 minutes.
For best results, place the pudding in an empty dripping pan under roasting beef for the last 15-20 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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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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Egg + milktop 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
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the batter that sets into the puffed pudding.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and help it rise and set as it bakes.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and loosens the batter to a pourable custard consistency.
The step that matters
Preheating the pan and oven before pouring the batter. The batter needs a very hot, fat-coated pan so it begins cooking on contact and rises steeply instead of spreading flat. Hot fat and high heat create the steam that lifts the 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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