Why it works: Egg and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Cherry Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a large bowl, beat the eggs until frothy.
Gradually add the sugar and continue to beat until well combined.
Melt the butter and mix it into the egg and sugar mixture.
Fold in the cherry preserves until evenly distributed.
Bake
Pour the mixture into a greased baking dish.
Bake for 30-40 minutes or until set and lightly golden on top.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Butter + cherrytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,531 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Sugar + cherrytop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,598 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 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
- Eggs
- Beaten eggs provide structure and set the pudding as they cook.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps keep it tender and moist.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, giving the pudding a tender texture.
- Cherry preserves
- Supply fruit flavour, sweetness and moisture throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Bake until set. Eggs set as they heat, so underbaking leaves the centre runny while overbaking can make the texture dry and rubbery. Look for a set centre and lightly golden top.
Swap the cherry
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Cherrythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter. 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.
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