Name: Date Pudding
Ingredients: one cup chopped nuts; one cup chopped dates; three tablespoons bread crumbs; one cup sugar; two teaspoons baking powder; two eggs beaten slightly

Why it works: Dates and bread work together. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 100 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Date Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Beat eggs slightly.
Add chopped nuts, then chopped dates, bread crumbs, sugar and baking powder, mixing as you go.
Mix.
Bake for thirty minutes in a slow oven.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

648Calories

20 gProtein

6 gFat

126 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Dates	1 date (24g) medjool	66
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Nuts	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.

By Chicago. Bethany union church. Woman's society. [from old catalog]. 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. See the original page.

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.

Dates + breadtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together100 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Nuts + datestop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together178 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Nuts + breadtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together174 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Dates + sugartop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together985 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs: Bind the batter and give the pudding its set structure as they cook.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the pudding brown lightly in the oven.
Baking powder: Releases gas in the batter so the pudding rises and lightens.
Dates: Add sweetness, moisture and a chewy texture to the pudding.
Chopped nuts: Add texture and a toasty flavour against the soft batter.