Why it works: Cream and sugar 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 ↓
Strawberry Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the gelatine
Soak the gelatine in cold water until softened.
Add the boiling water to the gelatine and stir until dissolved.
Mix in the strawberry juice, lemon juice, and salt; set aside to cool until it begins to thicken.
Make the mixture
Whip the egg whites until stiff, then add the sugar and beat together.
Once the gelatine is slightly thickened, beat it until light.
Fold in the whipped egg whites and whipped cream.
Mold and serve
Dip a mold in cold water and drain it, then fill it with the mixture.
Set aside to harden, then slice and serve with cake.
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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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Strawberry + creamtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,525 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Strawberry + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,206 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid as it cools, giving the pudding its firm, sliceable body.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into foam, they trap air and make the pudding light and airy.
- Whipped cream
- Adds richness and softness, making the texture creamier and more delicate.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the whipped egg whites and balances the tartness of the fruit juice.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the strawberry flavour.
- Strawberry juice
- Provides the main liquid base and the strawberry flavour.
The step that matters
Beating the gelatine while slightly thickened. Gelatine sets as it cools. If it is beaten only when slightly thickened, it can trap air and hold the foam. If it is too firm, it will form lumps and will not blend smoothly with the egg whites and cream.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (strawberry, egg, cream, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Bananafits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against strawberry, egg, cream, sugar. 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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