Name: Barley Pudding
Ingredients: 3 lb pearl barley; 3 pints milk; 1 lb raw sugar; a little nutmeg or lemon peel

Why it works: Barley and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 136 recipes. Both carry maltol, which smells caramel, sweet. The science ↓

Barley Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

3 lb pearl barley
3 pints milk
1 lb raw sugar
a little nutmeg or lemon peel

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Soak the barley in 1 quart of cold water for 12 to 15 hours.
Drain the water and place the barley in a pie dish.

Bake

Stir in the milk and sugar.
Bake in a 300°F (150°C) oven for 4 hours.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Barley + nutmegtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together136 recipes

Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).
Barley + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together598 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).
Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,685 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together77,875 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar + nutmegtop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together23,364 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

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

Pearl barley: Provides the bulk and chewy, starchy body that thickens as the pudding bakes.
Milk: Supplies the liquid that cooks the barley into a soft, creamy pudding.
Raw sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the pudding brown slightly as it bakes.