Name: Baked Puddings
Ingredients: Rhubarb stalks, washed, wiped, and pared; Lisbon sugar (or regular sugar); Penny roll, sliced thin; Clarified butter; Fine bread crumbs; Sugar (about 1 tablespoon)

Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Baked Puddings

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Cut the rhubarb into short lengths and layer them in a deep dish with a spoonful or two of sugar.
Cover the rhubarb with a layer of sliced penny roll.
Add another layer of rhubarb and sugar, followed by another layer of bread.
Top with a deep layer of fine bread crumbs mixed with sugar.
Pour a little clarified butter over the crumbs.
Bake in a brisk oven at 400°F (200°C) for 30 to 40 minutes.

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.

Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Rhubarb + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,852 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Rhubarb + breadtop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together66 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Rhubarb + buttertop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together673 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).