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 ↓
Cottage Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, mix the flour, sugar, and cream of tartar.
Dissolve the baking soda in the milk and add it to the dry ingredients.
Melt the butter and stir it into the mixture.
Flavor with nutmeg and mix until smooth.
Bake and serve
Pour the batter into a greased baking dish.
Bake for about 30-40 minutes until golden.
Cut into slices and serve warm with wine or brandy sauce, or sweet sugar 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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the main structure that sets the batter into a tender crumb.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the cream of tartar to produce gas that lifts the pudding as it bakes.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidic partner to the baking soda, releasing carbon dioxide for rise and a lighter texture.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour and adds moisture and richness to the crumb.
- Butter
- Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and contributes flavour.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the crumb brown as it bakes.
The step that matters
Dissolving the baking soda and adding the batter promptly. Baking soda and cream of tartar start producing gas once wet, so the batter should go into the dish and into the oven without delay to keep the rise.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, milk, butter, cream):
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Nutmegthe original
- Jalapenofits less well
- Capersfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, milk, butter, cream. 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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