Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓
Sago Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the pudding
Boil the sago in milk until tender.
Let it cool, then add the eggs, biscuits, brandy, and sugar.
Boil the mixture in a basin.
Serve
Serve with melted butter, wine, 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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Brandy + winetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,427 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Butter + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Brandy + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,127 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Milk + brandytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,738 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sago
- Swells as it cooks in milk, giving the pudding its body and soft, tender texture.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and set when heated, giving the pudding structure and a firmer texture.
- Milk
- Cooks with the sago to form the base, adding moisture and richness.
- Naples biscuits
- Soak up liquid and add flavour and body to the pudding mixture.
The step that matters
Boiling the mixture in a basin. Egg-thickened puddings can curdle or turn rubbery if overheated, so the mixture should be heated gently and kept from boiling too hard.
“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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