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 ↓
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
Heat 1½ cups of milk in a saucepan.
Reserve a little milk to mix with 4 tablespoons of flour until smooth.
Gradually add the hot milk to the flour mixture, stirring to avoid lumps.
Add 2 tablespoons of butter, ¼ teaspoon of salt, and 4-5 well-beaten eggs, mixing thoroughly.
Bake and serve
Pour the mixture into a buttered dish or cups.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30-45 minutes until set.
Turn out and serve hot with any sauce you like.
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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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
- Eggs
- Set the custard-like batter into a firm, sliceable pudding as they cook.
- All-purpose flour
- Thickens the hot milk into a smooth base that holds the pudding's shape.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid base that the flour thickens and the eggs set.
- Butter
- Adds richness and flavor, and keeps the pudding tender.
The step that matters
Adding the hot milk to the flour. Pouring the hot milk in gradually while stirring keeps the flour from clumping. Adding it all at once makes lumps that stay in the smooth batter.
“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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