Name: Yankee Pudding Sauce
Ingredients: ½ cup fresh butter; 4 tablespoons powdered sugar; ¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg; 2 teaspoons brandy or sherry; additional nutmeg or orange peel for garnish

Why it works: Nutmeg and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,311 recipes. Both carry linalool, which smells floral, citrus. The science ↓

Yankee Pudding Sauce

Ingredients

½ cup fresh butter
4 tablespoons powdered sugar
¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg
2 teaspoons brandy or sherry
additional nutmeg or orange peel for garnish

Directions

Make the sauce

Beat together the butter, powdered sugar, and grated nutmeg.
Add the brandy or sherry and mix well.
Heap the mixture onto a small dish.

Garnish and serve

Garnish with additional grated nutmeg or orange peel.
Serve with pancakes or any type of pudding.

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.

Nutmeg + brandytop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,311 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Butter + brandytop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,127 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together24,377 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together11,939 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Sugar and brandy barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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

Butter: Provides richness and a smooth, creamy body that holds the sauce together.
Powdered sugar: Dissolves easily into the butter, adding sweetness and a soft, spreadable texture.
Brandy or sherry: Adds a sharp, aromatic flavour that balances the sweetness of the butter and sugar.