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 ↓
Yorkshire Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the batter
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Mix and sift the flour, salt, and baking powder.
Gradually add the milk and beaten egg yolks, mixing until smooth.
Fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites.
Bake and serve
Heat iron gem pans until smoking hot and grease with fat from the roasting pan.
Pour in the batter and bake for 30 to 40 minutes.
Serve immediately around the roast.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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).
-
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Milk + eggtop 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
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the main structure of the batter as it sets in the oven.
- Eggs
- Egg whites, folded in whipped, add lift; yolks enrich the batter and help it set.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that turns the flour into a batter and creates steam for rising.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the pudding rise and become light.
The step that matters
Heat the pans until smoking hot before pouring in the batter. A very hot pan with hot fat starts cooking the batter’s outside immediately, so it puffs up sharply. A cool pan lets the batter spread and rise weakly, leaving a dense, flat pudding.
“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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