Why it works: Milk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Batter Pudding-
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a bowl, mix the flour with a little milk until smooth and lump‑free.
In another bowl, beat the eggs and combine with the remaining milk.
Make and bake the batter
Add the flour mixture, baking soda, and salt to the egg mixture and stir well.
Pour the batter into a greased baking dish and bake for 20 minutes.
Serve immediately.
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 + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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 pudding rise and hold its shape.
- Flour
- Forms the body of the batter, setting with the eggs to give the pudding its structure.
- Milk
- Supplies the liquid that hydrates the flour and keeps the pudding moist as it bakes.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with acidity in the batter to produce gas that helps the pudding rise.
The step that matters
Keep the flour mixture smooth and lump-free before combining. Mixing flour with a little milk first hydrates the starch evenly, so it blends into the batter without dry pockets or lumps that would stay visible after baking.
“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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