Why it works: Rum and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,908 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Sauce for Christmas Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Combine rum, egg yolks, egg whites, castor sugar, and ½ cup water in a saucepan.
Place the saucepan in a larger pan of boiling water.
Whisk briskly until the mixture thickens and becomes frothy.
Serve
Serve immediately.
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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Rum + sugartop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,908 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).
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Rum + eggtop 27% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,589 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Provide richness and thicken the sauce as they heat and set.
- Egg whites
- Whisking adds air, giving the sauce a light, frothy texture.
- Castor sugar
- Sweetens the sauce and helps stabilise the whisked foam.
- Rum
- Adds aroma and flavour to the sauce.
The step that matters
Whisk briskly over the boiling water. Heat must be gentle enough that the egg yolks thicken without scrambling. Constant whisking spreads the heat evenly and incorporates air, so the sauce turns smooth and frothy instead of lumpy.
“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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