Name: Almond Pudding
Ingredients: 4 ounces bread crumbs or 4 ounces grated bread; 1½ pints cream; 1 pound blanched almonds; 2 teaspoons orange flower water; 8 egg yolks; 4 egg whites; 1 pound loaf sugar; 3 to 4 ounces melted butter

Why it works: Almond and orange are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,125 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Almond Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

Soak the bread crumbs in the cream or grate the bread.
Blend the almonds into a fine paste with the orange flower water.
In a bowl, beat the egg yolks and egg whites together.

Mix and bake

Combine the soaked bread, almond paste, beaten eggs, and loaf sugar.
Stir in the melted butter until well mixed.
Pour the mixture into a dish lined with parchment paper.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.

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.

Almond + orangetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,125 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,245 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Bread crumbs: Soaked in cream, they add body and a soft, moist crumb to the pudding.
Cream: Adds moisture and richness, keeping the pudding tender as it bakes.
Blanched almonds: Ground into a paste, they supply the main flavour and a dense, creamy texture.
Egg yolks: Add richness and help bind the pudding as they set in the oven.
Egg whites: Add structure and lift, helping the pudding set into a light, cohesive texture.
Loaf sugar: Sweetens the pudding and contributes to browning on the surface as it bakes.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, cream, almond, egg, sugar, butter):

Vanillafits better
Figfits better
Coconutfits better
Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, cream, almond, egg, sugar, butter. 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.