Why it works: Sugar and biscuit match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,873 recipes mention both. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Also mentioned in the method: butter
Directions
Cook the fruit
Boil together a pound of green gooseberries, five ounces of sugar, and more than a quarter pint of water for ten to twelve minutes.
Beat the fruit to a mash.
Mix and bake
Stir in an ounce and a half of fresh butter.
When nearly or quite cold, add two ounces and a half of very fine breadcrumbs and four well whisked eggs.
Bake the pudding gently for half to three-quarters of an hour.
Optional finer pudding
(Optional) For a finer pudding, work the fruit through a sieve, mix with four or five crushed Naples biscuits, and use double the quantity of butter.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Sugar + biscuittop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,873 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Sugar + eggtop 10% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together122,252 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + biscuittop 18% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together1,630 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Set the pudding and give it structure as they cook.
- Green gooseberries
- Provide the tart fruit flavour and the bulk of the pudding.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the fruit and balances its tartness.
- Butter (in the method)
- Adds richness and a soft, tender texture.
- Breadcrumbs (in the method)
- Absorb moisture and give the pudding body.
The step that matters
Add the eggs only when the mixture is nearly or quite cold. Eggs thicken and scramble when exposed to heat. Adding them to a hot mash can cause curdling and lumps, so cooling the mixture first keeps the pudding smooth.
“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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