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Dessert

Prune Pudding

A chilled dessert made from stewed prunes, egg whites, sugar, cloves, lemon, gelatin, served with whipped cream and sherry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Prune Pudding

Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Prune Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the prunes

  1. Mash the stewed prunes through a sieve.

  2. Combine the prunes with cloves, lemon juice, and rind.

Make the pudding

  1. Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold in the sugar.

  2. Dissolve the gelatine in cold water, then mix with the hot prunes.

  3. Pour the mixture into a mold and refrigerate until set.

Serve

  1. Serve with seasoned whipped cream and a splash of sherry wine.

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.

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.

  1. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Clove + lemontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,150 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Lemon + winetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,157 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Clove + sherrytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,237 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  5. Clove + winetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,958 recipes

    Shared aroma: cis-isoeugenol (clove, spicy).

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

What each ingredient does

Stewed prunes
Provide the main body, sweetness and flavour of the pudding.
Egg whites
Whipped to foam, they lighten the texture and add airy structure.
Gelatine
Sets the mixture so it holds its shape when chilled.
White sugar
Sweetens the pudding and helps stabilise the whipped egg whites.
Lemon
Adds acidity and brightness that balances the sweetness of the prunes.

The step that matters

Dissolve the gelatine in cold water, then mix with the hot prunes. Gelatine must be fully dissolved before it is combined, or it will form lumps and set unevenly. It sets only as the mixture cools, so it needs to be stirred evenly through the hot prunes before the pudding is poured into the mold.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, lemon, cream, sherry, wine):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, lemon, cream, sherry, wine. 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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