Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Prune Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the prunes
Boil the prunes until tender, then remove the seeds and cut the fruit into small pieces.
Assemble the pudding
In a pudding dish, layer the prunes with bread crumbs and small lumps of butter.
Sprinkle layers with brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves as desired.
Cover the mixture with the water used to boil the prunes to keep it moist.
Top with English walnut meats and most of the butter.
Bake
Bake at 300°F (150°C) until heated through, ensuring it does not dry out.
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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Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
-
Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,686 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Nutmeg + walnuttop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,230 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Cinnamon + walnuttop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,147 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Prunes
- Provide the main fruit body, sweetness and a soft, moist texture when cooked.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb the fruit juices and give the pudding body so it holds together.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, helping flavor carry and keeping the layers moist.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and a caramel-like depth that complements the cooked prunes.
- English walnut meats
- Add crunch and a toasted, nutty contrast to the soft pudding beneath.
The step that matters
Keeping the pudding moist while baking. Covering the mixture with the cooking water keeps the bread crumbs and fruit from drying out in the oven. Low, gentle heat then heats it through without toughening or scorching the surface.
Swap the walnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, butter, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, meat):
- Almondfits better
- Chestnutfits about as well
- Walnutthe original
- Pistachiofits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, butter, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, meat. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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