Why it works: Sugar and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Green Gooseberry Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the filling
Pick, wash, and stew the gooseberries with sugar and water until soft.
Allow the mixture to cool slightly.
Mix in the grated breadcrumbs and beaten eggs until well combined. Adjust sweetness with more sugar if needed.
Bake
Line a pie dish with pastry, pour in the mixture, and bake until set.
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.
-
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Gooseberries
- Provide the tart fruit flavour and the bulk of the filling once stewed soft.
- Eggs
- Set the mixture into a custard-like texture as they bake.
- Grated breadcrumbs
- Absorb the stewed fruit juices and help thicken the filling so it holds its shape.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the tart gooseberries and balances their acidity.
The step that matters
Bake until set. Eggs set as they heat, so underbaking leaves the filling runny while overbaking can make it curdle and dry. Check that the centre has firmed before removing it from the oven.
“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.
More gooseberry pudding recipes
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 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.