Why it works: Sugar and walnut are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 26% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,147 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Caramel Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the caramel
Boil the light brown sugar and water in a pot until thoroughly dissolved.
Thicken and serve
Dissolve the cornstarch in a little water.
Add the dissolved cornstarch to the mixture.
Pour the mixture into molds and serve with whipped cream.
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.
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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Sugar + walnuttop 26% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,147 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the liquid as it heats, so the pudding sets firm enough to hold its mold shape.
- Light brown sugar
- Provides sweetness and the deep, molasses-like caramel flavor when boiled with water.
The step that matters
Dissolving the cornstarch before adding it. Cornstarch clumps if added dry or undissolved to hot liquid. Fully dispersing it in cold water first lets the granules thicken the mixture evenly as it heats.
“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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