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 ↓
Malted Cereal Pudding
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.
Prepare and bake
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a baking dish, combine the milk and grain.
Bake until done, then remove from the oven and take off the brown skin.
Finish and serve
Let it cool slightly, then stir in the malt flour.
Allow to sit below boiling point for the malt to activate, then replace the skin 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.
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + malttop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together101 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).
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Malt + flourtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together260 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, 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
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that cooks down into a soft, creamy pudding.
- Grain
- Provides the body and starch that thicken the pudding as it bakes.
- Malt flour
- Adds a malty, sweet aroma and flavor once activated by gentle warmth.
The step that matters
Stirring in the malt flour after cooling slightly. Malt contains enzymes that are damaged by boiling temperatures. Letting the pudding cool slightly before stirring in the malt, then holding it below boiling point, lets the enzymes work without being destroyed.
“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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