Why it works: Ginger and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,154 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Batter Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Rub the flour smoothly into the milk and simmer until thickened.
Stir in the butter when cool, then add the egg yolks.
If desired, add ginger, nutmeg, or lemon peel.
Boil and serve
Place the mixture into a cloth or basin.
Plunge it into boiling water, bottom upwards.
Boil for 1.5 hours.
Serve with plain butter.
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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Ginger + lemontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,154 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Ginger + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,324 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Thickens the milk into a smooth batter that holds the pudding together.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and help the mixture set as it cooks.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a rich flavour and a tender, moist texture.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the flour thickens into batter.
The step that matters
Plunge it into boiling water, bottom upwards. The pudding must stay fully submerged and boiling so it cooks evenly and sets through; if the water stops boiling or the cloth lets water in, the texture turns out uneven or soggy.
Swap the ginger
The recipe marks ginger as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, flour, butter, egg, nutmeg, lemon):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, flour, butter, egg, nutmeg, lemon. 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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