Why it works: Milk and flour 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 ↓
Batter Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a bowl, combine sweet milk, baking powder, salt, and enough flour to make a batter.
Spoon a small amount of batter into each cup.
Assemble and cook
Add a spoonful of fruit preserves or fresh fruit on top.
Top with another spoonful of batter.
Steam the cups until cooked through.
Serve
Serve with 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.
-
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + fruit preservetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Milk + fruit preservetop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Milk and flour 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
- French's white lily flour
- Provides the starch and gluten structure that sets the batter around the fruit.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the puddings rise and turn light.
- Sweet milk
- Hydrates the flour and adds moisture and richness to the batter.
- Fruit preserves or fresh fruit
- Adds sweetness, moisture and fruit flavor to each pudding.
The step that matters
Steam the cups until cooked through. Steam heats the batter gently and evenly, so the centre sets without the outside drying out. Stopping too early leaves raw, gummy batter, because the flour's starch needs sustained heat to gelatinize and set.
“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.
You might also like
Fruit Cake129 recipes
Fruit Cookies80 recipes
Fruit Cream36 recipes
Apple Pudding20 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.