Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Prune Souffle
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 the prunes
Soak prunes in water overnight.
Cook prunes in the soaking water until soft, then drain.
Remove the stones and press prunes through a puree sieve.
Make the souffle and bake
Mix in granulated sugar and beaten egg whites until stiff.
Bake in a pudding dish at 350°F (175°C) for 20 minutes.
Serve
Serve cold in the baking dish with cream.
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 + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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
- Prunes
- Provide the main flavour and body, and their pulp gives the souffle moisture and sweetness.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into foam, they trap air and give the souffle its light, risen structure.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the mixture and helps stabilise the whipped egg white foam.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten egg whites. Whites must be beaten until stiff and folded in gently so the air bubbles are kept. Overmixing deflates the foam, and the souffle will not rise well in the oven.
“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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