Name: Almond Pudding
Ingredients: ½ pound blanched almonds; 8 eggs; 1 pound sugar; ¾ pound butter; 1 teaspoon rose water; 1 pint cream; Puff pastry for the rim

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 ↓

Almond 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 batter

Pound the blanched almonds in a mortar until fine.
Beat the eggs in a bowl.
Cream together the sugar and butter in a separate bowl.
Stir in the pounded almonds, then add the beaten eggs, rose water, and cream.

Bake

Pour the mixture into a deep plate or pudding dish lined with puff pastry.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 45 minutes.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,245 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
Almond + rosetop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,465 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Almond + creamtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,130 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Almonds: Provide the bulk and nutty flavor, and thicken the filling as they are pounded fine.
Eggs: Set the custard as they bake and add structure and richness to the filling.
Butter: Adds fat and richness, giving the pudding a tender, smooth texture.
Sugar: Sweetens the pudding and, creamed with butter, helps give a light texture.
Cream: Adds moisture and richness, keeping the filling soft and smooth after baking.

“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.