Name: Dutch Pudding
Ingredients: 1 pint of cream; ½ lb. (1 cup) of butter; a little mace (about ¼ teaspoon); ½ lb. (2 cups) of flour; 6 eggs (4 whites reserved)

Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Dutch 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 batter

Boil the cream.
Stir in the butter and mace.
Add the flour and mix well.
Incorporate the eggs, leaving out 4 egg whites.

Bake and serve

Pour the mixture into little pans.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 45 minutes.
Serve with butter, wine, and sugar.

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.

Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Cream + macetop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,009 recipes

Butter and flour 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

Cream: Adds moisture and richness, giving the batter a soft, tender crumb.
Butter: Adds fat, which enriches the flavor and keeps the crumb tender.
Flour: Provides the starch and structure that hold the batter together as it bakes.
Eggs: Bind the batter and set as it bakes, adding structure and richness.