Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Jubilee Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Cream the butter and brown sugar together.
Add the beaten eggs and preserved fruit, mixing well.
Sift in the baking soda and flour, and stir until combined.
Steam
Pour the mixture into a mold and steam for one 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.
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 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).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Butter and flour 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
- Butter
- Adds richness and a tender texture as it is creamed with the sugar.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and moisture, and deepens the flavour of the pudding.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as they set during steaming.
- Preserved strawberries
- Add fruity flavour and sweetness throughout the batter.
- Baking soda
- Reacts to create gas bubbles that lighten the batter and help it rise.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the pudding together once cooked.
The step that matters
Stir in the flour gently. Once flour meets liquid, overmixing develops gluten, which makes the pudding tough and dense. Stir only until the flour is just combined.
“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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