Why it works: Egg and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Cracker 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 batter
Soak the cracker crumbs in milk while preparing the other ingredients.
Beat the eggs and mix in the sugar.
Combine the egg mixture with the soaked cracker crumbs and suet, adding a pinch of salt.
Work the mixture to a smooth paste.
Bake and serve
Butter a pudding dish, pour in the mixture, and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.
Serve with a fruit 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.
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 + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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 mixture and set it into a custard-like texture when baked.
- Cracker crumbs
- Provide the bulk of the pudding and absorb the milk to form a soft body.
- Suet
- Adds richness and fat, giving the pudding a tender, moist texture.
- Milk
- Hydrates the crumbs and forms the liquid base that sets with the eggs.
The step that matters
Work the mixture to a smooth paste. Soaked crumbs and suet can stay lumpy if not fully worked, leaving uneven texture in the baked pudding. A smooth, evenly hydrated mixture bakes into a uniform set.
“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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