Why it works: Cream and sugar 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 Pudding
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
Stew the prunes until soft.
Remove the pits and mash the prunes with a fork.
Whip the cream and egg white
Beat the egg white until stiff.
Whip the cream until frothy.
Stir the sugar into the whipped cream.
Combine and bake
Combine the prunes, whipped cream, and egg white in a dish.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 20 minutes.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Egg + sugartop 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 body, moisture, and sweet, concentrated fruit flavour.
- Egg white
- Whipped to stiff peaks, it traps air that lifts and lightens the pudding as it bakes.
- Cream
- Whipped to a foam, it adds richness and a soft, airy texture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps stabilise the whipped cream.
The step that matters
Beat the egg white until stiff. Stiff peaks trap air that makes the pudding rise and stay light. Under-beaten whites collapse and give a dense result, while over-beaten whites turn dry and grainy and lose their ability to hold air.
“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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