Name: Fruit Pudding with Sum Sauce
Ingredients: 1 quart pudding mould; ½ lb. of pastry; 4 oz. of stoned cherries; 3 oz. of stoned plums; 2 tablespoons of caster sugar; 1 cup of cold water; 2 cups of fruit juice (tinned); 2 cups of grated breadcrumbs; caster sugar for serving

Why it works: Plum and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,313 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓

Fruit Pudding with Sum Sauce

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

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 mould

Butter a 1-quart pudding mould.
Line the mould with ½ lb. of pastry.

Make the fruit filling

In a basin, combine 4 oz. of stoned cherries and 3 oz. of stoned plums.
Add 2 tablespoons of caster sugar and 1 cup of cold water to the fruit mixture.
Layer 2 cups of fruit and juice in the mould.

Top and bake

Add a thick layer of grated breadcrumbs on top.
Baste the breadcrumbs with the remaining cold water.
Cover with soaked slices of bread-and-butter.
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until browned.
Sift caster sugar over the pie before serving hot or cold.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Plum + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,313 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Pastry: Forms the outer crust that holds the pudding together while it bakes.
Stoned cherries: Provide fruit flavour and juice that moistens the pudding as it cooks.
Stoned plums: Add tart fruit flavour and juice that adds moisture to the filling.
Grated breadcrumbs: Absorb the fruit juice and form a thick layer that helps set the top.
Bread-and-butter: Soaked slices soften and brown on top, adding richness and colour.

“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.