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 ↓
Prune Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the custard
Heat sweet milk in a saucepan until it reaches boiling point.
In a separate bowl, mix cornstarch with a little cold milk until smooth.
Gradually stir the cornstarch mixture into the boiling milk.
Add sugar, beaten eggs, butter, and nutmeg and mix well.
Bake and serve
Pour the mixture into a buttered pudding dish and add the stewed prunes.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the oven.
Serve warm, with or without sauce.
Pour cream over it for extra flavor.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,685 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together24,377 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Egg + nutmegtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together24,744 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Egg and nutmeg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 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
- Beaten eggs set the custard, giving it body and a tender structure as they cook.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the hot milk into a smooth, sliceable custard as its starch swells when heated.
- Sweet milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard, providing richness and moisture.
- Stewed prunes
- Add sweetness, moisture and a deep, fruity flavor to the pudding.
The step that matters
Stirring cornstarch into the boiling milk. Cornstarch must be fully dispersed in cold milk first and added gradually to boiling milk, otherwise it clumps. Its starch then swells and thickens the custard evenly.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, egg, butter):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegthe original
- Gingerfits less well
- Parsleyfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, egg, butter. 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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