Why it works: Sugar and cream 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 ↓
Cherry Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the pudding
In a saucepan, combine cherries, juice, gelatine, and sugar.
Bring to a boil, then remove from heat and let cool slightly.
Stir in cherry juice or lemon juice.
Set and serve
Pour the mixture into a mold and refrigerate until set.
Once cold, turn out onto a plate and top with whipped cream.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + cherrytop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,598 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Cherry + creamtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together827 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cherries
- Provide the main fruit flavour, colour and body of the pudding.
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable pudding as it cools.
- Granulated sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the tartness of the cherries and juice.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the cherry flavour, if used in place of cherry juice.
The step that matters
Let the mixture cool slightly before pouring. Gelatine needs to be cooled enough to set firmly; if it is still very hot, the mixture may set unevenly or not hold its shape. Stirring in the juice at this stage keeps its flavour fresh.
Swap the cherry
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Strawberryfits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Cherrythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cream. 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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