Name: Soyer's Sauce for Plum-pudding
Ingredients: 1 tablespoonful of powdered sugar; 1 gill of milk; 3 eggs; 2 small wineglassfuls of brandy; 7 persons

Why it works: Milk and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,738 recipes. Both carry gamma-nonanolactone, which smells coconut, sweet. The science ↓

Soyer's Sauce for Plum-pudding

7 persons

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

Separate the yolks from the whites of 3 eggs.
Place the yolks in a stewpan.
Add powdered sugar, milk, and grated lemon rind to the pan.
Stir the mixture over the fire until it thickens, but do not allow it to boil.

Finish and serve

Add the brandy to the sauce.
Let the sauce stand by the side of the fire to heat, stirring occasionally.
Serve the sauce in a boat or tureen separately, or pour it over the pudding.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

276Calories

14 gProtein

13 gFat

25 gCarbs

Counts 3 of 4 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 3 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Brandy	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 Isabella Beeton. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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.

Milk + brandytop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,738 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Egg + brandytop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,340 recipes

Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together88,785 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together77,875 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together11,939 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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

Egg yolks: Thicken the sauce as they set gently with heat, giving it a smooth, custard-like body.
Powdered sugar: Adds sweetness and dissolves easily into the warm milk and yolks.
Milk: Forms the liquid base that the yolks thicken into a pourable sauce.
Brandy: Adds aroma and a warming, spirited flavour to the sauce.

The step that matters

Stir over the fire without letting it boil. Egg yolks thicken gently at moderate heat, but boiling makes them curdle or scramble, leaving a grainy sauce instead of a smooth one.

“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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Soyer's Sauce for Plum-pudding