Name: Guava Brown Betty
Ingredients: 1½ cups stewed guavas; 1¼ cups dry bread crumbs; 1/3 cup sugar; ¼ cup margarine; 1/3 tsp nutmeg; 1/3 tsp ground cinnamon; Juice of one lemon or lime

Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon 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 ↓

Guava Brown Betty

Oven350°F

Time20 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Melt the margarine and blend it with the bread crumbs.
Combine the spices and sugar with the crumb mixture.
Grease a pie dish.

Layer and bake

Sprinkle a layer of crumbs on the bottom of the dish.
Cover with a layer of stewed guavas.
Sprinkle the guava layer with spice and sugar.
Repeat layering of crumbs, guavas, spice, and sugar until all ingredients are used.
Top the final layer with bread crumbs.
Mix the lemon or lime juice with a tablespoon of water and pour the juice mixture over the pudding.
Bake in a moderate oven for 20 minutes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

647Calories

14 gProtein

14 gFat

118 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Lime	juice of 1 lime (44ml)	11
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Guava	not in our table	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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.

Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,917 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,318 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Cinnamon + lemontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7,950 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30,779 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Guava + cinnamontop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together19 recipes

Shared aroma: cinnamyl acetate (sweet aromatic, cinnamon).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Stewed guavas: Provide the fruit filling and its moisture and flavor throughout the pudding.
Dry bread crumbs: Form the layers that soak up the fruit juices and bind the pudding together.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps balance the tartness of the guavas and citrus.
Margarine: Adds fat that coats the crumbs, promoting even browning and a tender texture.
Lemon or lime juice: Adds acidity that brightens the guava flavor and balances the sweetness.

Swap the guava

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, lemon):

Orangefits better
Vanillafits better
Raisinfits better
Guavathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, lemon. 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.