Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Prune Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the prune base
Cook one cup of prunes until soft in as little water as possible, then rub through a colander.
Beat the whites of five eggs to a stiff froth and add to the prunes.
Mix a half cup of sugar and a half teaspoonful of cream of tartar thoroughly and sift into the prunes.
Put the mixture in a baking dish and bake a few minutes in a moderate oven to cook the egg.
Make the custard
Serve with a custard made as follows:
Put one pint of milk into a double boiler to scald.
Beat the yolks of four eggs until light.
Add two tablespoonfuls of sugar to the egg yolks.
When the milk is scalded, pour it into the egg mixture, then pour the whole back into the double boiler.
Bring to the scalding point, remove from the stove and add one teaspoonful of vanilla.
Stand away to cool.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 5 of 7 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| 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 |
| Prune | not in our table | 0 |
| Water | 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.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
-
Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,301 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
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Cream + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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
- Prunes
- Provide the main flavour and body of the pudding once softened and pressed through.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to a stiff froth, they give the pudding its light, airy structure.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard as they cook gently with the hot milk.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard, which thickens as the eggs set.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the prune base and the custard.
The step that matters
Bake the prune mixture only a few minutes. Egg whites set with gentle heat; baking too long in a moderate oven can cause them to toughen, weep or lose their light texture.
“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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