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Dessert

Yerushalmi Kugel

A sweet noodle casserole made with egg noodles, sugar, olive oil, raisins, spices, and eggs, baked until browned.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,390 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Yerushalmi Kugel

Serves 6
Oven350°F (180°C)
Timeabout 40 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Boil noodles according to the package instructions and drain.

  2. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan, then add ⅓ cup sugar.

  3. Stir continuously until the sugar begins to brown. Remove from heat, then let the sugar continue to brown for a few more minutes, creating a thick caramel.

Make the kugel

  1. Add the caramel to the noodles.

  2. Add the sugar, eggs, cinnamon, pepper, and raisins, then stir.

Bake

  1. Bake in a pan at 350°F (180°C) until the top begins to brown (about 40 minutes).

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

320Calories
7 gProtein
19 gFat
33 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6

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 Wikibooks Cookbook.

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.

  1. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  2. Pepper + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,890 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  3. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Olive + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,263 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Olive + cinnamontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,501 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

Noodles
Form the bulk of the dish and hold the custard-like mixture together.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set as it bakes.
Sugar
Caramelizes to add sweetness, colour and a deep, toasty flavour.
Olive oil
Adds fat that carries flavour and keeps the noodles from drying out.
Raisins
Add pockets of sweetness and moisture throughout the kugel.

The step that matters

Browning the sugar into caramel. Sugar moves from pale to burnt within moments, so it must be watched closely. White sugar makes the first colour change easier to see. Removing the pan from heat lets residual heat finish the browning without scorching the caramel.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, olive, pepper, cinnamon):

  1. Lemonfits better
  2. Limefits better
  3. Vanillafits better
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, olive, pepper, cinnamon. 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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