Name: Transparent Pudding
Ingredients: 2 cups of sugar; 2 tablespoonfuls of flour; 1 teaspoonful of vanilla; 1 cup of cream; 1 cup of jelly; 1 cup of butter; 1 cup of sugar; 1 tablespoonful of butter; 1 tablespoonful of flour; 4 eggs; 88 desserts; two puddings; 1 lemon; 4 city butter crackers 1 cup of cream; 2 eggs; one pie; 2 lemons; one large pie; lemon juice

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 ↓

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).
Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together35,032 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,241 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Eggs: Yolks enrich the filling, and beaten whites add lightness and help it set.
Butter: Creamed with sugar, it adds fat that gives a tender, rich texture.
Sugar: Sweetens the pudding and, creamed with butter, helps trap air for a lighter texture.
Flour: Provides structure that helps the filling hold together as it bakes.
Cream: Adds moisture and richness to the mixture.
Jelly or preserves: Adds sweetness and fruity flavor to the filling.

The step that matters

Add the beaten whites last. Beaten egg whites hold air that makes the pudding light. Folding them in gently at the end, rather than beating them into the mixture, keeps that air from collapsing.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour, vanilla, cream, butter, egg):

Raisinfits better
Figfits better
Coconutfits better
Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour, vanilla, cream, butter, egg. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Vanilla	1 tsp extract (4ml)	12
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Pudding	not in our table	0
Pie	not in our table	0

Transparent Pudding