Why it works: Flour and saffron work together. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 447 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Saffron Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Mix the chopped kidney suet with the flour (or flour and crumbled French roll).
In a bowl, beat the eggs and combine with the heavy cream, cognac, and saffron.
Boil the saffron in a small amount of water to extract the flavor before adding it to the mixture.
Combine all ingredients and mix well.
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 + saffrontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together447 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cream + saffrontop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together243 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
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Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
Swap the saffron
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, egg, cream):
- Nutmegfits better
- Jalapenofits better
- Capersfits better
- Saffronthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, egg, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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