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 ↓
Ratifia Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a gentle oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the custard
Flavor the milk with bitter almonds, bay leaves, and cinnamon, then add a few grains of salt and sugar.
Simmer gently for a few minutes, then strain the milk through a fine sieve.
Return the milk to a clean saucepan and bring to a boil.
Gradually stir the hot milk into the beaten eggs, then let the mixture cool.
Add the brandy to the cooled mixture.
Assemble and bake
Butter a dish and lay a half-paste in it.
Sprinkle the crumbled ratifias into the dish and grate lemon rind over them.
Place whole ratifias on top and pour in enough custard to soak them.
After an hour, add the remaining custard and bake in a gentle oven at 300°F (150°C) for half an hour.
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.
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Almond + lemontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,655 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Brandy + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,127 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Set the custard as they cook, giving the pudding its structure and body.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard, giving a soft, tender texture when baked.
- Ratifias
- Absorb the custard and add almond-like flavor and a crisp, soaked texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and balances the flavors of the almonds and brandy.
- Brandy
- Adds aroma and flavor to the custard.
The step that matters
Gradually stir the hot milk into the beaten eggs. Adding hot milk slowly tempers the eggs, raising their temperature gently so they thicken smoothly instead of scrambling into lumps.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, almond, sugar, egg, brandy, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Apricotfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, almond, sugar, egg, brandy, butter. 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.
You might also like
Lemon Cake228 recipes
Lemon Ice147 recipes
Lemon Sherbet103 recipes
Brandy Peaches68 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.