Why it works: Clove and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Cream Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard base
Boil the cream with mace, cloves, and grated nutmeg.
Let the cream cool.
Beat the eggs, using only 3 whites.
Strain the beaten eggs.
Mix the eggs with flour, beaten almonds, and orange-flower or rose-water. Combine the mixture with the cooled cream and stir the mixture well.
Boil and serve
Wet and flour a thick cloth.
Pour the mixture into the cloth and tie the cloth securely.
Plunge the cloth into boiling water and boil for 30 minutes.
Carefully turn the pudding onto a dish.
Sprinkle with fine sugar and serve with pudding sauce.
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.
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Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,686 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Nutmeg + almondtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,115 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,557 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Almond + orangetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,125 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Egg whites set the pudding and give it a firm, sliceable body when boiled.
- Cream
- Adds richness and moisture, giving the pudding a soft, tender texture.
- Blanched almonds
- Add body and a nutty flavour, thickening the mixture slightly as they are finely beaten.
- Fine flour
- Helps bind the mixture so it holds together in the cloth while boiling.
The step that matters
Tying the cloth securely. If the cloth is loose or water enters, the pudding can become waterlogged and fall apart. A well-floured, snugly tied cloth lets the pudding hold its shape while it steams-boils in the water.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, clove, nutmeg, egg, flour, almond, orange):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Allspicefits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, clove, nutmeg, egg, flour, almond, orange. 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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