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 ↓
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).
Mix the salt and baking powder with the flour.
Make the batter
Beat the egg until light and fluffy, then add the sugar and melted Cottolene.
Mix thoroughly, then stir in the milk.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients.
Bake and serve
Pour the batter into a shallow dish and bake for about 30 minutes.
Cut into squares and serve with lemon or wine 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 + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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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).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 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
- Pastry flour
- Provides the starch and gluten network that gives the cake its structure.
- Egg
- Adds structure and richness, helping the batter set as it bakes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, making the cake rise and become light.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the crumb stay tender and browned at the edges.
- Cottolene
- Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and carries flavor.
- Milk
- Adds moisture that hydrates the flour and forms the batter's liquid base.
The step that matters
Combining the wet and dry ingredients. Stir just until the flour is moistened. Overmixing develops too much gluten, which makes the cake tough and dense instead of tender.
“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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