Why it works: Flour and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Madeleine Puddings
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a rather brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Clarify the butter and skim it.
Grease round tin pattypans with the clarified butter, leaving half a teaspoonful in each.
Make and bake
Mix the remaining butter with eggs, sugar, and flour, and beat lightly.
Fill the pans about two-thirds full and bake in a brisk oven at 400°F (200°C) for 15 to 18 minutes.
Turn out the puddings and drain on paper.
Fill and serve
Once cool, hollow out the tops with a knife and fill with a mixture of apricot jam and pounded almonds.
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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Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Apricot + almondtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together852 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + apricottop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,458 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and give the baked puddings their structure and lift.
- Flour
- Provides the starch that sets the batter into a light, sponge-like crumb.
- Butter
- Adds richness and flavour, and greases the pans so the puddings release cleanly.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the batter and helps the crumb brown lightly in the oven.
- Pounded almonds
- Add nutty flavour and a moist, rich texture to the jam filling.
- Apricot jam
- Adds sweetness and fruity acidity, and moisture to the hollowed centres.
The step that matters
Fill the pans about two-thirds full and bake in a brisk oven. Too little batter gives flat, dry puddings, while overfilling can cause the batter to spill and bake unevenly. A hot oven sets the outside quickly so the puddings rise and hold their shape.
Swap the apricot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, egg, sugar, flour, almond):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Apricotthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg, sugar, flour, almond. 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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