Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Dumplings and Puddings
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard base
Bring the milk to a boil in a saucepan.
Wet the cornstarch in a small amount of milk.
Stir the wet cornstarch into the boiling milk, stirring constantly for 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in the butter.
Let the mixture cool.
Add eggs and lemon
Beat the egg yolks and sugar together.
Mix the beaten egg yolks and sugar into the cooled milk mixture.
Gradually stir in the lemon juice and grated rind until smooth.
Bake or set and serve
Pour the mixture into a well-buttered dish.
Bake until set.
Alternatively, pour the mixture into small cups dipped in cold water.
Let the cups cool for 1 hour.
Serve cold with cream and sugar.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the milk into a smooth, sliceable custard as its starch swells when heated.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the cornstarch thickens and the eggs enrich.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and help the pudding set into a soft, creamy texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a smoother mouthfeel and rich flavor.
- Lemon juice and grated rind
- Provide the sharp acidity and bright lemon aroma that define the pudding.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and balances the tartness of the lemon.
The step that matters
Stirring the cornstarch into boiling milk. Cornstarch thickens only when its starch granules swell in hot liquid. Stirring constantly for the full 5 minutes distributes the starch evenly and prevents lumps, while stopping early leaves the custard thin or grainy.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, milk, egg, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Coconutfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, milk, egg, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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