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 ↓
Yorkshire Pudding, to Serve with Hot Roast Beef
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the batter
In a bowl, combine flour and salt.
Gradually stir in enough milk to make a stiff batter.
Once smooth, add the remaining milk and beaten eggs.
Beat the mixture for a few minutes.
Bake and serve
Pour into a well-greased shallow tin.
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 1 hour.
For the last 30 minutes, place it under the meat to catch the gravy.
Cut into small square pieces before serving.
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 + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the batter that puffs and sets in the oven.
- Eggs
- Add structure and help the pudding rise and set as it bakes.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour and makes a thin batter that steams and puffs in the hot fat.
The step that matters
Heat the tin before pouring the batter. A thin batter needs a very hot, greased tin so it sizzles on contact and sets quickly, which lets it rise. If the tin is not hot enough, the pudding spreads flat and turns dense.
“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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