Name: French Plum Pudding
Ingredients: ½ pound flour; ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt; 4 egg yolks; 2 egg whites; ½ pint cream; 1 pound French plums

Why it works: Flour and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

French Plum Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

Combine the flour and salt in a basin.
Beat the egg yolks.
Stir the beaten yolks into the flour with the cream.

Prepare the plums

Boil the plums in water until the stones can be easily removed.
Drain the plums.
Remove the stones from the plums.

Boil the pudding

Stir the plums and frothed egg whites into the batter.
Place the mixture in a floured cloth.
Tie the cloth loosely.
Boil the mixture for 2 hours.

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.

Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + plumtop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together777 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together30,481 recipes

Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together42,166 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Cream + plumtop 29% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together369 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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

Flour: Forms the structure that holds the pudding together as it cooks.
Egg yolks: Enrich the batter and help bind it into a set, tender texture.
Egg whites: Frothed whites add lightness and help the pudding rise and stay airy.
Cream: Adds richness and moisture, softening the crumb.
French plums: Provide fruit flavour, sweetness and moisture throughout the pudding.