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Dessert

Prune Meringue

A baked dessert of prunes topped with a sweetened egg white meringue.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Prune Meringue

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the prunes

  1. Boil prunes in clear water until soft.

  2. Remove prunes and pour enough sweetened Madeira wine over them to create a syrup.

Make the meringue

  1. Froth the egg whites and mix in sugar until it resembles icing.

Bake and serve

  1. Place prunes in a baking dish and spread the icing over them.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until slightly browned.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  2. Madeira wine + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together343 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Madeira wine + eggtop 38% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together445 recipes

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

What each ingredient does

Prunes
Soften when boiled and provide a sweet, fruity base under the meringue.
Egg whites
Whipped to form a foam that sets into the meringue topping as it bakes.
Sugar
Sweetens the meringue and helps stabilise the whipped egg white foam.
Madeira wine
Sweetened and poured over the prunes to create a flavourful syrup.

The step that matters

Spreading the icing over the prunes. Whipped egg white foam can deflate if it is overmixed or left to stand, so it should be spread and baked promptly to keep its airy structure and set properly.

“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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