Queen of Puddings

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. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

2. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together22,662 recipes

   Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

3. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together92,116 recipes

   Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

4. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together106,462 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

5. Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together30,404 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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 set the custard and whites whip into the meringue topping.

Bread crumbs

Absorb the milk and egg mixture to form the body of the pudding.

Sugar

Sweetens the custard and the meringue and helps the whites hold their structure.

Milk (in the method)

Provides the liquid that the eggs set into a soft custard.

Butter (in the method)

Adds richness and moisture to the crumbs.

Strawberries

Add fruity sweetness and acidity to the topping layer.

The step that matters

Swap the lemon

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

1. Raisinfits better
2. Vanillafits better
3. Figfits better
4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, sugar, flour, egg, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.