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 ↓
Pkune Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the prunes
Soak prunes overnight.
Cook prunes in water until soft, then chop finely.
Sweeten prunes with sugar and cook until slightly thick.
Make the topping and bake
Beat egg whites until very stiff, reserving some for topping.
Fold the beaten egg whites into the prune mixture.
Place in the oven at 400°F (200°C) just long enough to brown the reserved egg whites 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.
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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Sugar + eggtop 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
- Prunes
- Provide the main body, sweetness and fruit flavor of the pudding.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to foam, they lighten the pudding and set it into a soft, airy texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the prunes and adds flavor to the pudding.
The step that matters
Beating the egg whites until very stiff. Egg white foam holds air only when whipped enough, and underwhipped whites collapse when folded in, leaving a dense pudding. Overbaking can also dry it, so the browning should be brief.
“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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