Name: Sauce for Pudding
Ingredients: one tablespoonful of cornstarch; half cup of sugar; one cup of boiling water; one teaspoonful of vanilla; three cups of milk in a stew-pan; 1-1/4 cups of buckwheat flour; 1/4 teaspoonful of salt; one cup of tapioca soaked in 1 quart of cold water several hours; 1 quart of cold water several hours; 1 pint can of peaches; one cup of beef suet chopped fine; 1/2 cup sour milk; 1 teaspoonful soda; 1/2 cup sugar; 1 teaspoonful cinnamon; 1 cup raisins; one generous teaspoonful of butter; one well-beaten egg; 1 egg; salt

Why it works: Vanilla and peach match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 558 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. 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.

Vanilla + peachtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together558 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Vanilla + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,287 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
Buckwheat + flourtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together660 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,187 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Buckwheat + cinnamontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together56 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

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

What each ingredient does

Cornstarch: Thickens the liquid into a smooth, glossy sauce as it cooks.
Egg: Enriches the sauce and adds body once stirred in off the heat.
Butter: Adds richness and a smoother mouthfeel to the finished sauce.

The step that matters

Cook all together until clear. Cornstarch must be heated until it thickens and turns clear, or the sauce stays cloudy and starchy-tasting. Taking it off the fire before adding the beaten egg keeps the egg from scrambling.

Swap the peach

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, vanilla, milk, buckwheat, flour, beef, cinnamon):

Figfits better
Raisinfits better
Blueberryfits better
Peachthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, vanilla, milk, buckwheat, flour, beef, cinnamon. 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
Beef	100g cooked	250
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Sour Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62
Peach	1 medium (150g)	59
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Vanilla	1 tsp extract (4ml)	12
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0
Buckwheat	not in our table	0

Sauce for Pudding