Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and 122,858 recipes mention both. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Make the batter
Cream the butter and sugar together.
Add the eggs and beat until smooth.
Sift the flour with the baking soda and mix until very smooth.
Stir in the strawberry jam and lemon juice.
Steam
Steam gently for 1 hour and 30 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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Flour + buttertop 6% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together122,858 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + buttertop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together118,511 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
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Butter + lemontop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together41,197 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Egg + flourtop 8% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together104,138 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + strawberry jamtop 9% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together170 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Flour and butter share little aroma chemistry, yet 122,858 recipes mention both: they likely 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
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and set to give the pudding its structure.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the pudding together.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a tender crumb.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps soften the crumb when creamed with butter.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic jam and lemon juice to lift the batter.
- Strawberry jam
- Adds fruity sweetness, flavour and moisture.
The step that matters
Steam gently for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Gentle steam heats the pudding evenly and sets it slowly. Vigorous boiling can splash water into the batter or dry the steamer, leaving the crumb uneven or the pudding underdone.
Flavor stand-ins for the strawberry jam
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, flour, butter, sugar, lemon):
- Vanillabetter flavor fit
- Raisinbetter flavor fit
- Orangebetter flavor fit
- Strawberry jamthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, flour, butter, sugar, lemon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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