Name: A Marrow Pudding
Ingredients: 1 pint boiling cream; 1 pound beef marrow, cut very thin; 4 eggs; ⅓ cup brandy; sugar to taste; nutmeg to taste; 2 ounces citron, cut very thin

Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

A Marrow Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the custard

Pour boiling cream over the crumb of a penny loaf.
Add the thinly cut beef marrow.
Beat the eggs well and mix in the brandy, sugar, and nutmeg.
Combine all ingredients thoroughly.

Cook and serve

Boil or bake the mixture for 45 minutes.
Sprinkle the thinly cut citron on top when serving.

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 + sugartop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,920 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Brandy + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,311 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Cream + brandytop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,635 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
Beef + nutmegtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,495 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

Beef marrow: Enriches the pudding with richness and a soft, custardy texture as it melts.
Eggs: Bind the mixture and set it as it cooks, giving the pudding its structure.
Boiling cream: Softens the bread crumb and adds moisture and richness to the pudding.
Brandy: Adds aroma and flavour to the pudding.
Citron: Adds a bright, slightly tart citrus note to the finished pudding.

“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.