Name: Bedfordshire Pudding
Ingredients: 1 cup short crust pastry; 1 egg; 1 oz sugar (about 2 tablespoons); 2 oz all-purpose flour (about ½ cup); 2 oz margarine (about 4 tablespoons); 1 teaspoon baking powder; Grated lemon rind; Jam; Castor sugar for dusting

Why it works: Sugar and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓

Bedfordshire Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Line a shallow dish with the short crust pastry and spread some jam over the bottom.

Make the filling

In a bowl, beat the margarine and sugar until creamy.
Add the egg and lemon rind, then sift in the flour and baking powder.
Pour the mixture over the jam in the dish.

Bake and serve

Bake for about 1 hour until done.
Dust with caster sugar before serving.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together30,404 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together44,316 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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

All-purpose flour: Provides the structure that sets the sponge-like batter as it bakes.
Margarine: Creaming with sugar traps air and adds richness and a tender crumb.
Egg: Binds the batter and helps it set firm and hold its shape in the oven.
Baking powder: Releases gas during baking so the batter rises and becomes light.
Sugar: Sweetens the batter and helps it brown while creaming with the fat.
Jam: Adds fruity sweetness and moisture that soaks into the base as it bakes.