Why it works: Carrot and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,424 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓
Carrot 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
Grate the red part of the raw carrots.
Mix the grated carrots with double the weight of bread crumbs or Naples biscuit.
Make the batter
In a large bowl, combine the carrot mixture with milk or cream, beaten eggs, and melted butter.
Add loaf sugar, nutmeg, white wine, and ratafia or brandy to the mixture.
Bake
Pour the mixture into a baking dish and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 1 hour.
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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Carrot + nutmegtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,424 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
-
Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Butter + white winetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,083 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
-
Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Raw carrots
- Provide the main bulk and moisture, with sweetness and body for the pudding.
- Bread crumbs or naples biscuit
- Absorb liquid and give the pudding its soft, cake-like body.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and help it set firm as it bakes.
- Milk or cream
- Adds moisture and richness, keeping the pudding tender.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a tender, moist crumb.
The step that matters
Baking the pudding. The eggs set as the custard heats, so the pudding should be baked until firm and not pulled out while still loose in the centre.
Swap the carrot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, milk, egg, butter, sugar, nutmeg, white wine):
- Capsicumfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Potatofits better
- Carrotthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, milk, egg, butter, sugar, nutmeg, white wine. 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.
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