Name: Castle Puddings
Ingredients: 3 eggs; 6 ounces fine sifted sugar; 3 ounces fresh butter; ¼ pound best flour, sifted; 1 dessertspoon French potato-flour; 2 tablespoons cold water; ¼ pint sherry; juice of 1 lemon

Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Castle Puddings

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

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.

Make the batter

Beat the eggs with the sugar for 20 minutes until thick.
Place the bowl in hot water, renewing it twice to keep the temperature at 90°F (32°C).
Flavor with grated lemon peel or lemon extract.
Dissolve the butter and mix it with the egg-sugar mixture.
Gently fold in the sifted flour until combined.

Bake

Butter small cups or tins and fill them halfway with the mixture.
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 15 to 20 minutes.

Make the sauce

For the sauce, mix the potato-flour with cold water.
Stir into boiling hot sherry, add lemon juice, sweeten, and thicken over heat.

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.

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.

Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Potato + lemontop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,230 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Butter + potatotop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,456 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + sherrytop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,505 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Eggs: Beaten to a thick foam that gives the pudding its light, airy structure.
Sugar: Sweetens the pudding and helps the beaten eggs hold their foam.
Butter: Adds richness and a soft, tender texture to the batter.
Flour: Sets the batter's structure as it bakes, giving the pudding body.
French potato-flour: Thickens the sherry and lemon sauce into a smooth, glossy consistency.

The step that matters

Keep the eggs and sugar warm while beating. Gentle warmth helps the sugar dissolve and the egg foam reach full volume, so the pudding rises well. The temperature is given as 90°F (32°C) in the record and should be kept steady by renewing the hot water.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, flour, sherry, lemon):

Arrowrootfits better
Shallotfits better
Leekfits better
Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, flour, sherry, lemon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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.