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 ↓
Prune Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the prunes
Wash the prunes and soak them overnight in enough water to cover.
Cook the prunes in the same water until very soft.
Remove the stones and rub the prunes through a colander to remove large pieces of skin.
Make the pudding
Heat the mixture again until very thick, then add the soaked gelatine and sugar.
Remove from heat and fold in the well-beaten egg whites.
Serve
Serve cold 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 + eggtop 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 fruit flavour, sweetness, and the thick body of the pudding when cooked and puréed.
- Gelatine
- Sets the puréed prunes so the pudding holds its shape when chilled.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into the warm mixture to make it light and airy.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the tartness of the prunes.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Egg whites hold air only when well beaten and gently folded in off the heat. Stirring vigorously or adding them to a very hot mixture deflates the foam and makes the pudding dense rather than light.
“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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