Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓
Steam Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl.
Add the flour and baking soda, mixing well.
Stir in the milk and fruit until combined.
Steam
Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.
Steam for 2 hours.
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 + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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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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
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the pudding together as it cooks.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the batter to produce gas, helping the pudding rise and turn lighter.
- Butter
- Adds fat, which contributes richness and a tender texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps keep it moist and tender.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour and adds moisture to form a batter.
- Fruit
- Adds moisture, sweetness and flavor to the pudding.
The step that matters
Steam for 2 hours. Steaming needs steady, gentle heat so the pudding cooks through evenly and stays moist. If the water boils dry or the heat drops too low, the pudding can turn out dense or undercooked in the centre.
“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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