Why it works: Egg and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Prune 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.
Prepare the prunes
Stew the prunes until soft, then drain and chop them finely.
Make the meringue
Beat the egg whites until stiff.
Gradually add the sugar while continuing to beat the egg whites.
Slowly mix in the chopped prunes.
Bake and serve
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 20 minutes.
Serve cold with custard made from the egg yolks or 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.
-
Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a foam that traps air, giving the pudding its light, set structure.
- Prunes
- Provide the main body, moisture and fruity sweetness of the pudding.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps stabilise the whipped egg white foam.
The step that matters
Beat the egg whites until stiff. Egg white proteins unfold and trap air as they are beaten, forming the foam that lifts the pudding. Underbeaten whites collapse, while overbeaten whites turn dry and grainy. Folding the prunes in slowly protects the foam from deflating.
“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.
More prune pudding recipes
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.