Why it works: Flour and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Sweet Puddings
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Grate nutmeg and let it cool.
Beat the eggs and strain them.
Mix the eggs with flour, ground almonds, and orange-flower or rose water.
Boil
Wet and flour a thick cloth, pour in the mixture, and tie it closed.
Plunge the cloth into boiling water and boil for 1 hour.
Serve
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.
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.
-
Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Almond + orangetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,125 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,679 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Egg and flour 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
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Set the pudding into a firm, sliceable body as they cook, and add richness.
- Finely ground blanched almonds
- Provide the bulk and body of the pudding, along with moisture and rich flavor.
- All-purpose flour
- Helps bind the mixture and gives it structure as it cooks.
- Orange-flower or rose water
- Adds a floral aroma that flavors the pudding.
The step that matters
Boiling the pudding in the cloth. The pudding sets as it boils, so the water must be boiling when the cloth goes in and must stay at a steady boil for the full hour. A floured cloth also helps form a skin that holds the shape.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, flour, almond, sugar):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, flour, almond, sugar. 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.
You might also like
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Orange Cream Rice Pudding121 recipes
Orange Gelatin100 recipes
Orange Sherbet73 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.