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 ↓
Steamed Chocolate Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a bowl, mix the egg, milk, sugar, flour, baking powder, melted chocolate, and butter until well combined.
Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.
Steam
Steam for 1 hour until cooked through.
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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Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Milk + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,128 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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
- Egg
- Binds the batter and helps set the pudding as it cooks.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the pudding together once cooked.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas that lifts the batter so the pudding turns out light.
- Chocolate
- Gives the pudding its chocolate flavour and a rich, dense texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a tender crumb and richer mouthfeel.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and loosens the batter to a pourable consistency.
The step that matters
Steam until cooked through. Steam heats the pudding gently and evenly, so the centre sets without drying the outside. Stopping too early leaves the batter raw in the middle, while overcooking makes the crumb tough and rubbery.
“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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