Why it works: Gelatin and cream match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,628 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓
Prune Mould
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mixture
Prepare prune puree as desired.
Soak gelatin in a little of the water used to cook the prunes.
Dissolve the gelatin over a kettle of hot water.
Stir the dissolved gelatin quickly into the prune puree.
Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks and fold them into the mixture.
Set and serve
Wet a mold and pour the mixture into it.
Set the mold on ice to congeal.
Turn out the mold onto a glass dish and serve 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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Gelatin + creamtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,628 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Gelatin + eggtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,449 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
- Gelatin
- Sets the puree into a firm, sliceable mould as it cools.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they lighten the texture and add air to the mould.
- Prune puree
- Provides the main flavour, sweetness and moisture of the dish.
The step that matters
Stirring the dissolved gelatin into the puree. Gelatin must be fully dissolved and stirred in quickly so it distributes evenly before it begins to set; lumps or early setting leave streaks and a grainy texture in the mould.
“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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