Pudding Sauce, No. 4

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. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together18,623 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together124,287 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

3. Butter + winetop 13% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together8,645 recipes

   Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

4. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together92,116 recipes

   Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

5. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together106,462 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Sugar

Sweetens the sauce and helps dissolve into the hot liquid for a smooth base.

Butter

Adds fat for richness and a smooth, rounded mouthfeel when creamed with the sugar.

Flour

Thickens the sauce as its starch swells in the hot liquid.

Egg white

Whipped to stiffness, it folds in air that lightens the sauce's texture.

Boiling water

Forms the liquid base and dissolves the sugar while melting the butter into the mixture.

Wine

Adds aroma and acidity that balances the sweetness.

The step that matters

Swap the nutmeg

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

1. Cinnamonfits better
2. Nutmegthe original
3. Jalapenofits less well
4. Capersfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, flour, egg, wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.