Why it works: Sugar and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Prune Pudding Stew
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the prune mixture
Press the prunes through a colander.
Add sugar to the prunes and mix well.
Add the egg whites and bake
Beat the egg whites until stiff and stir them into the prune mixture.
Pour the mixture into a pudding dish.
Bake for 10 minutes.
Serve
Serve hot with cream or a sauce made from the beaten egg yolks, milk, and a little sugar.
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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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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 fruity flavour of the pudding.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and adds moisture to the prune base.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to foam, they trap air that lightens the pudding as it bakes and sets.
The step that matters
Beating the egg whites until stiff. Egg whites must be whipped until they hold firm peaks so they trap air. Stirring them in gently keeps that air from deflating, which is what lifts the pudding during 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.
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