Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Blackberry-jam 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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Make the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the flour, blackberry jam, and sour cream, mixing well.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Fold the egg whites into the batter gently.
Add baking soda and grated nutmeg, mixing until just combined.
Bake and serve
Pour the mixture into a greased baking dish and bake for 30-40 minutes.
Serve warm with sauce.
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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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Blackberry + nutmegtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together203 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the pudding together as it bakes.
- Eggs
- Whipped whites trap air for lift, and the yolks add richness and set the crumb.
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar, it traps air and gives the pudding a tender, rich texture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and, creamed with butter, helps create a light, tender crumb.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour cream to produce gas that helps the pudding rise.
- Sour cream
- Adds moisture and acidity, tenderizing the crumb and activating the baking soda.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Whipped whites hold air that lifts the batter. Stirring vigorously or overmixing knocks that air out, leaving a denser pudding, so fold gently until just combined.
Swap the blackberry
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, egg, cream, nutmeg):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Blackberrythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, egg, cream, nutmeg. 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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