Why it works: Milk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Arrow-root Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Dissolve the arrow-root in a little cold milk.
Boil the remaining milk.
Combine and cook
Once the milk has cooled, add the eggs, sugar, salt, and flavoring.
Bake or boil the mixture.
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 + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Arrow-root
- Thickens the milk as it heats, giving the pudding a smooth, set body.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid base and moisture for the pudding.
- Eggs
- Add structure as they set, firming the pudding when baked or boiled.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps balance the flavor of the eggs and milk.
The step that matters
Add the eggs only after the milk has cooled. Eggs scramble when they meet very hot liquid. Letting the boiled milk cool first lets the eggs blend in smoothly and set into an even custard.
“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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