Why it works: Sherry and apple work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 395 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓
Cottage Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cake
Prepare a sponge cake in a 1-pound mold.
Once the cake is done, stick the blanched almonds all over it.
Pour ⅓ cup sherry wine over the cake.
Cover the cake until serving.
Make the custard
Boil 1 quart of milk.
In a bowl, mix the egg yolks with sugar and essence of lemon or vanilla.
When the milk boils, pour it over the egg mixture.
Return the mixture to a saucepan.
Heat until it thickens, but do not boil.
Remove from heat.
Cool in the refrigerator.
Make the icing and serve
Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks, adding a little jelly or preserve while beating.
When ready to serve, pour the custard over the cake.
Spread the icing on top.
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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Sherry + appletop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together395 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Almond + lemontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,655 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Wine + appletop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,207 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Milk + appletop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,104 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Almond + sherrytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together517 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sponge cake
- Forms the base that soaks up the sherry and custard.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard as they set with gentle heat.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard, giving it body and moisture.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they form a light foam for the icing.
- Sherry wine
- Moistens the cake and adds a distinct aroma and flavour.
- Almonds
- Add a nutty flavour and a crunchy texture to the cake.
The step that matters
Heat the custard until it thickens, but do not boil. Egg yolks thicken as their proteins set with gentle heat. If the custard boils, the yolks can scramble and curdle, leaving a grainy texture instead of a smooth custard.
Swap the almond
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sherry, wine, milk, egg, sugar, lemon, apple):
- Chestnutfits about as well
- Almondthe original
- Peasfits about as well
- Cocoafits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against sherry, wine, milk, egg, sugar, lemon, apple. 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.
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