Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓
Fruit Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt.
Add cold milk or water until the mixture is the consistency of drop biscuit dough.
Stir in melted butter.
Steam and serve
Butter a mold or small tin pail.
Layer the batter and fresh fruit alternately until the vessel is filled.
Cover tightly and steam for 1.5 hours.
Serve with liquid 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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter 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
- Forms the bulk structure of the pudding as it sets with steam.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during steaming, helping the pudding rise and turn light.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and a richer flavor in the crumb.
- Fresh small fruit
- Adds moisture, sweetness and flavor between the layers of batter.
The step that matters
Cover tightly and steam. If the lid or cover leaks, steam escapes and the pudding can dry out or turn heavy. Keeping the vessel sealed holds steam around the batter so it cooks evenly and rises.
“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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