Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Frozen Plum Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make a custard by combining milk, sugar, and eggs in a saucepan over medium heat until thickened.
Let the custard cool, then stir in cream.
Add the citron, marshmallows, raisins, dates, figs, cinnamon, cloves, and chocolate coloring.
Pack the mixture in ice and let it stand for about three hours.
Serve 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.
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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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Cinnamon + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Dates + figtop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together318 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
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Cinnamon + figtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together614 recipes
Shared aroma: cinnamyl acetate (sweet aromatic, cinnamon).
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Clove + figtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together404 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the dates
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cinnamon, egg, clove, raisin, fig, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Applefits better
- Pearfits about as well
- Datesthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cinnamon, egg, clove, raisin, fig, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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