Why it works: Egg and butter 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 Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the fruit
Top and tail the gooseberries and wash them.
Place them in a covered jar in the oven until they become soft.
Rub the cooked gooseberries through a sieve to remove seeds and skins.
Make the pudding
While the gooseberries are cooking, make the pastry and line a 1½ pint pie dish with it.
Mix 1 pint of the puree with the beaten eggs, butter, sugar, and breadcrumbs.
Pour the mixture into the lined dish and bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).
Serve hot or cold with 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.
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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Egg + buttertop 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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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
- Gooseberries
- Provide the tart fruit base and the puree that gives the pudding its body and flavour.
- Eggs
- Bind the puree and set during baking to give the pudding a firm, custard-like texture.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, softening the texture and carrying flavour through the pudding.
- Breadcrumbs
- Absorb moisture from the puree and help thicken the filling as it bakes.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the tart gooseberries and balances their acidity.
The step that matters
Rub the cooked gooseberries through a sieve. Seeds and skins left in the puree would give a gritty, uneven texture, and the puree must be smooth so the egg and breadcrumb mixture sets evenly.
“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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