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 ↓
Batter 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.
Make the batter
Separate the yolks and whites of the eggs and beat them separately.
Mix the beaten eggs with the flour until well combined.
Add the milk and stir until you have a smooth batter.
Cook
Pour the batter into a basin or dish.
Boil in a pot of water for 1.5 hours or bake in an oven at 350°F (175°C) for the same time.
If boiling, place the basin upside down in the boiling water.
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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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
- Bind the batter and set as they cook, while the beaten whites add lightness.
- Flour
- Provides structure, setting as the batter cooks into a solid pudding.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and liquid that turns the mixture into a smooth, pourable batter.
The step that matters
Place the basin upside down when boiling. Inverting the basin keeps boiling water out of the pudding, so the batter cooks through with moisture and an even texture rather than being waterlogged.
“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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