Why it works: Milk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Arrow Root 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 custard
Mix the arrowroot with the cold milk in a bowl.
Pour the mixture into the boiling milk and dissolve the sugar.
Stir constantly and add the spice and eggs.
Bake
Pour into a dish lined with pastry and bake for 30 minutes at 350°F (175°C).
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Arrowroot (in the method)
- Thickens the milk mixture into a smooth, set custard as it heats.
- Eggs
- Add richness and help the pudding set as it bakes.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard and gives it body and softness.
- White sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps dissolve into the hot milk.
The step that matters
Stir constantly when adding the spice and eggs. Eggs can scramble or curdle if they meet very hot milk without constant stirring. Keeping the mixture moving spreads the heat evenly so the custard stays smooth and thickens properly.
“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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