Why it works: Flour and milk 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
Prepare the batter
Beat the eggs separately with salt.
Mix the flour in a bowl.
Chop the suet finely and rub it into the flour.
Add the beaten eggs to the flour mixture.
Pour in the milk or water to achieve the desired consistency.
Prepare the dish
Grease the baking dish to prevent sticking.
If boiling, ensure the pudding fills the vessel completely.
If baking, leave an inch of space at the top of the dish.
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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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour and milk 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
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and help it set and rise as it cooks.
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the pudding as its starch sets during cooking.
- Suet or dripping
- Adds fat that enriches the batter and gives a tender texture.
- Milk or water
- Sets the batter's consistency and moisture; milk adds richness and browning.
The step that matters
Pour in the milk or water gradually to the right consistency. Too much liquid makes the batter thin and it may not set or rise well, while too little makes it dense and stiff. Adding liquid in stages lets you judge the consistency before the batter is final.
“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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