Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓
Date 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.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Work in the butter with your fingers until well combined.
Make the batter
In a bowl, beat the egg and then add the milk.
Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and mix quickly to form a smooth batter.
Stir in the dates or berries.
Bake
Pour the batter into buttered cake tins and brush the top with butter.
Bake for 15 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.
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 + milktop 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).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Milk + datestop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together470 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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 structure of the pudding as the batter sets in the oven.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the pudding rise and become light.
- Egg
- Adds structure and binds the batter as it cooks.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and softness to the batter.
- Butter
- Adds richness and tenderness, and browns the top when brushed on.
- Dates or berries
- Add sweetness, moisture and flavour to the pudding.
The step that matters
Mix the batter quickly once the egg mixture is added. Once liquid meets flour, gluten begins to develop and the baking powder starts releasing gas. Mixing quickly and briefly keeps the batter smooth and tender and preserves the rise, while overmixing makes the pudding tough and dense.
Swap the dates
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, sugar, egg, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Datesthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, sugar, egg, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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