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 ↓
Blackberry Pudding or Other Berries
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Reserve a little flour and coat the berries with it.
In a bowl, combine the remaining flour, salt, baking soda dissolved in sweet milk, and syrup or molasses to form a smooth batter.
Gently fold in the berries to avoid breaking them.
Steam and serve
Pour the mixture into a buttered mold.
Place the mold in boiling water, ensuring the water does not reach the top of the mold.
Keep the water boiling for at least two hours.
Serve with boiled sauce.
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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Flour + syruptop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,540 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Milk + syruptop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,143 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the pudding together as it steams.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the syrup or molasses to lighten the batter.
- Syrup or molasses
- Adds sweetness, moisture and a deep flavour to the batter.
- Fresh berries
- Add juicy pockets of fruit and flavour throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Keep the water boiling for at least two hours. Steaming needs a steady, gentle heat to set the batter through without drying it out. If the water drops off or the mold sits in water that is too low, the pudding cooks unevenly and can turn dense.
“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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