Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Macaroon Puddings
Ingredients
Directions
Make the mixture
Pour boiling cream over macaroons and let cool.
Bruise macaroons smooth with the back of a spoon.
Add beaten yolks and whites of eggs separately, and sugar.
Stir in brandy.
Bake
Put mixture into small cups and bake for 15 minutes.
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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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cream + brandytop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,635 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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Egg + brandytop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,340 recipes
Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).
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Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and brandy barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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
- Macaroons
- Provide the main body and flavour, softening into a smooth base when soaked in cream.
- Eggs
- Add structure and set the pudding as they cook, with whites giving lightness.
- Cream
- Softens the macaroons and adds richness and moisture to the custard.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps balance the rich cream and eggs.
- Brandy
- Adds aroma and a warm flavour to the pudding.
The step that matters
Adding the whites separately. Beaten whites folded into the mixture trap air, which lightens the pudding; if they are deflated or overmixed, the pudding turns dense.
“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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