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 ↓
Cup Puffs
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a bowl, mix the sugar, milk, eggs, baking powder, and salt.
Add flour gradually until the batter can fall from a spoon.
Fill and steam
Butter 6 teacups and place a spoonful of batter in each.
Add a little fresh fruit on top, then fill each cup half full with batter.
Steam the cups for 1 hour.
Serve
Serve the puffs with liquid 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 + 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 + saucetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,147 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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
- Eggs
- Provide structure and richness as they set, helping the puffs hold their shape.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, making the puffs rise and turn light and airy.
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the batter so it holds together while steaming.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and helps form a smooth, pourable batter.
- White sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the puffs brown lightly.
The step that matters
Adding the flour. The batter should be thick enough to fall from a spoon. Too much flour makes the puffs dense and tough, while too little leaves them flat and wet.
“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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