Why it works: Almond and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,115 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
Sweet Puddings
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Grate nutmeg and let it cool.
Beat 8 eggs and 3 egg whites, then strain them.
Make and boil the pudding
Mix the eggs with flour, ground almonds, and orange-flower or rose water, then stir the mixture well.
Wet and flour a thick cloth, pour in the mixture, and tie it closed.
Plunge the cloth into boiling water and boil for 1 hour.
Serve
Carefully turn the pudding onto a dish, sprinkle with fine sugar, and serve with pudding sauce.
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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Almond + nutmegtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,115 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Almond + orangetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,125 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Orange + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,746 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Set the pudding into a firm, sliceable body as they cook.
- Blanched almonds, finely ground
- Provide the bulk and rich, nutty texture of the pudding.
- All-purpose flour
- Helps bind the mixture so it holds its shape when boiled.
The step that matters
Tying the cloth. The cloth must be wet, floured and closed tightly so the mixture does not leak or stick. Boiling water should surround the cloth, and the pudding needs room to expand a little as it cooks.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, flour, almond, nutmeg, sugar):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, flour, almond, nutmeg, sugar. 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.
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