Why it works: Butter and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Gooseberry Pool
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 gooseberries
Scald the gooseberries in water until soft.
Drain them in a sieve and let cool.
Work the cooled gooseberries through a sieve with a wooden spoon.
Mix and bake
Add the sugar, butter, and beaten eggs, and mix well for 15 minutes.
Pour the mixture into a pie dish and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.
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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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Sugar + eggtop 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
- Gooseberries
- Provide the tart flavour and the bulk of the pulp for the filling.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the gooseberries' sharp acidity.
- Butter
- Adds fat, richness and a tender texture to the filling.
- Eggs
- Bind the filling and set it as it bakes.
The step that matters
Draining and cooling the gooseberries well. Any water left in the scalded fruit thins the filling, so it may not set firmly in the oven. Cooling before sieving also keeps the mixture manageable.
“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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