Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Blueberry Pudding, with Hard Sauce
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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, mix the blueberries with ½ cup of sugar.
In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Make the batter
In a separate bowl, cream the butter and remaining sugar until light.
Add the egg and vanilla to the butter mixture, then mix in the milk.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until just combined.
Fold in the blueberries gently.
Bake and serve
Pour the batter into a greased baking dish and bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.
Serve warm with hard 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 + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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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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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,241 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
- Blueberries
- Provide fruit, moisture and sweet-tart flavor throughout the pudding.
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the batter as its starch sets during baking.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking so the pudding rises and turns light.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and rich flavor in the creamed base.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and helps set its structure as it bakes.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps the butter cream to a light texture.
The step that matters
Folding in the blueberries gently. Vigorous stirring develops gluten in the flour, making the pudding tough, and crushed berries bleed color into the batter. Fold just until the fruit is evenly distributed.
Swap the vanilla
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, milk, flour, butter, egg):
- Vanillathe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Figfits less well
- Coconutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, flour, butter, egg. 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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