Why it works: Egg and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Yorkshire Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Beat the eggs separately.
Add the flour, salt, and baking powder to the yolks.
Fold in the beaten egg whites last.
Bake and serve
Bake for 30 minutes in a greased pan, basting with beef drippings.
Serve hot, cut into squares as a garnish for the beef.
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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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + beeftop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together10,677 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + beeftop 31% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Eggs
- Whites trap air that lifts the batter, and yolks add richness and colour.
- Flour
- Forms the structure that holds the risen batter as it sets.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping it rise in the oven.
- Beef drippings
- Adds fat that helps the pudding brown and crisp while it bakes.
The step that matters
Fold in the beaten egg whites last. The whites hold the air that lifts the batter. Stirring vigorously deflates them, so the pudding rises less. Fold gently, just until no white streaks remain, so the air stays in the batter.
“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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