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 ↓
Prune Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Make the pudding
In a bowl, combine the chopped prunes and powdered sugar.
Gently fold in the beaten egg whites until well mixed.
Bake and serve
Pour the mixture into a baking dish and bake for 10 minutes.
Serve with whipped cream.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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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
- Cooked santa clara prunes
- Provide the main fruit body, sweetness, and moisture to the pudding.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to foam, they lighten the mixture and help it rise and set in the oven.
- Powdered sugar
- Adds sweetness and dissolves easily into the prune mixture.
The step that matters
Fold in the beaten egg whites gently. Stiffly beaten whites hold air bubbles that give the pudding its lift. Vigorous stirring knocks that air out, so the pudding bakes up dense and flat instead of light.
“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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