Why it works: Wheat and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,418 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓
Cracked Wheat Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Cook cracked wheat according to package instructions for two meals.
A few minutes before finishing, stir in raisins, dates, or any dried fruit.
The next day, prepare a custard using eggs, milk, and sugar.
Stir the custard thoroughly into the cooked wheat.
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until the custard is set.
Serve as a nutritious dessert.
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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Wheat + milktop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,418 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Raisin + datestop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together358 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Wheat + datestop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together69 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
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Wheat + raisintop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together163 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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 (wheat, raisin, egg, milk, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Coconutfits about as well
- Datesthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against wheat, raisin, egg, milk, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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