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 ↓
Yorkshire Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Preheat the oven under the roasting joint.
Beat the egg whites and yolks together until stiff.
Mix in the flour, cold milk, salt, and ale until smooth.
Bake
Pour the batter into a shallow tin.
Bake for about 2 hours until firm and lightly browned.
If thick, turn it over once browned on one side, dividing it into quarters for easier handling.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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
- Whipped eggs trap air, helping the pudding rise and giving it a light, hollow structure.
- Flour
- Flour sets during baking, forming the firm, sliceable structure of the pudding.
- Cold milk
- Milk adds moisture and, with the eggs, helps form the batter that puffs in the oven.
- Ale
- Ale adds a little liquid and flavour, and its carbonation can add lift to the batter.
The step that matters
Keep the oven hot and do not open the door during baking. A very hot oven and hot fat cause the batter to puff quickly as steam forms. Opening the door drops the temperature, so the batter can collapse and turn heavy.
“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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