Name: Hard Sauce with Cream
Ingredients: ½ cup sugar; ½ cup butter; 1 cup milk; 1 cup chopped suet; 1 cup seeded raisins; 1 cup molasses; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 1 teaspoon cinnamon; ½ teaspoon allspice; ½ teaspoon nutmeg; 1 pint bread crumbs; 1 quart milk; 1 cup sugar; 4 eggs; 1 lemon, grated rind; whites of 4 eggs; 1 cup sugar; juice of ½ lemon; 1 ounce gelatin; ½ lemon; 1 tablespoon cold water; 6 eggs; 1 cup sugar; ½ cup instantaneous tapioca; 1 tablespoon butter; 1 cup sugar; 1 can pineapple; whipped cream

Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

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.

Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,917 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,536 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,331 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,390 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,377 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs: Provide structure and binding, and help the mixture set and enrich its texture.
Butter: Adds fat for richness and a smooth, creamy mouthfeel.
Molasses: Adds sweetness, moisture, and dark colour, and its acidity reacts with baking soda.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acidic molasses to release gas, helping the mixture rise and lighten.
Gelatin: Forms a gel as it cools, giving the dish its set, sliceable body.
Bread crumbs: Add bulk and body, helping to hold the pudding together.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, milk, molasses, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg):

Vanillafits about as well
Raisinthe original
Figfits about as well
Orangefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, milk, molasses, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg. 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.

Hard Sauce with Cream