Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Gipsy Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Slice the stale sponge cake into thin pieces.
Spread currant jelly or preserves on half of the slices and sandwich them together.
Place the sandwich pieces in a dish.
In a saucepan, heat milk and sugar until warm.
Whisk together eggs and vanilla extract, then slowly add the warm milk mixture.
Pour the custard over the cake while it is hot.
Let it cool before serving.
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.
-
Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
-
Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Currant + milktop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,475 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
-
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Currant + vanillatop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together514 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, egg, vanilla):
- Figfits better
- Peachfits better
- Blueberryfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, egg, vanilla. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
You might also like
Vanilla Ice Cream108 recipes
Red Currant Jelly65 recipes
Currant Ice Cream32 recipes
Currant Sherbet9 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.