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Dessert

Cabinet Pudding

A pudding made with candied cherries, macaroons, almonds, eggs, claret wine, and gelatin, served with whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and gelatin work together. They rank in the top 23% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 197 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Cabinet Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Boil the claret wine in a saucepan.

  2. In a bowl, stir the yolks of the eggs with sugar to taste.

  3. Soak the gelatin in cold water until softened.

Make the custard

  1. Add the egg mixture and all other ingredients to the boiling wine, folding in the beaten egg whites last.

Assemble and serve

  1. Line a dish with macaroons, cherries, and almonds, then pour the mixture over them.

  2. Serve with whipped cream.

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. Almond + gelatintop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together197 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Almond + winetop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,260 recipes

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

  3. Almond + eggtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Egg + gelatintop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Wine + gelatintop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together176 recipes

    Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Proteins set as they cook, thickening the custard and giving it structure.
Gelatin
Sets the mixture so it holds its shape when cooled.
Claret wine
Adds liquid and a tart, fruity flavour to the custard.
Macaroons
Soak up the custard and add almond flavour and a soft, chewy body.
Candied cherries
Add sweetness, colour and a chewy, juicy bite.
Chopped almonds
Add crunch and nutty flavour that contrasts with the soft custard.

The step that matters

Folding in the beaten egg whites last. Beaten whites hold trapped air that makes the custard light. Folding them in gently at the end, rather than stirring, keeps that air from collapsing and keeps the texture airy.

Swap the almond

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, wine, gelatin):

  1. Peasfits about as well
  2. Almondthe original
  3. Chestnutfits about as well
  4. Beansfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, wine, gelatin. 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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