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 ↓
Saxon Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a gentle oven”. The 300°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the base
Boil the milk, then blend it with the flour, ensuring no lumps remain.
Place the mixture over heat and gradually add the butter while stirring continuously.
Remove from heat and continue stirring until smooth using the back of a wooden spoon.
Gradually mix in the sugar and egg yolks, then return to heat for 1-2 minutes.
Fold and bake
Once the mixture begins to cool, gently fold in the stiffly whipped egg whites.
Pour the mixture into a buttered mold dusted with potato flour and a little sugar.
Set the mold in a vessel of boiling water, ensuring the water reaches half the height of the mold.
Bake in a gentle oven (300°F / 150°C) until the top is delicately browned.
Turn out the pudding when done.
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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Milk + potatotop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Orange + potatotop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together537 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + potatotop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the custard base and help it set with a rich, smooth texture.
- Egg whites
- Whipped and folded in, they lighten the pudding and help it rise and set.
- Fine flour
- Thickens the milk mixture into a body that holds the pudding's shape.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a tender, smooth texture to the base.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the flour thickens into a smooth mixture.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Whipped whites trap air that gives the pudding its lift. If the base is too hot, the whites deflate and the pudding turns dense, so fold gently once the mixture has begun to cool.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, egg, milk, butter, sugar, potato):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, egg, milk, butter, sugar, potato. 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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