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Dessert

Prune Pudding

A sweet pudding made from stewed prunes, custard, and baked until brown.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Prune Pudding

Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Prune 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.

Make the prune pudding

  1. Stew, mash, and sweeten the prunes.

  2. Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then gradually fold in the prunes.

  3. Pour the mixture into a pudding dish and bake at 350°F (175°C) until brown.

Make the custard

  1. For the custard, heat the milk in a saucepan.

  2. In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until smooth.

  3. Slowly add the hot milk to the egg mixture, stirring constantly.

  4. Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over low heat until thickened.

  5. Flavor the custard with vanilla and serve cold with the 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.

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.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  3. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Prunes
Provide the main flavor and body of the pudding once stewed and mashed.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they give the pudding its light, airy structure.
Egg yolks
Thicken the custard as they cook, giving it a smooth, rich texture.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard, adding creaminess.
Sugar
Sweetens the prunes and custard and helps the yolks blend smoothly.

The step that matters

Cook the custard over low heat until thickened. Egg yolks thicken through gentle heat; if the custard runs too hot, the proteins curdle and it turns grainy. Stir constantly and stop as soon as it coats a spoon.

“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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