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Dessert

Prune Pudding

A dessert made from stewed prunes, vanilla, powdered sugar, egg whites, and cream.

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

Why it works: Vanilla and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Prune Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the prunes

  1. Soak the prunes in cold water for about 20 minutes.

  2. Put the soaked prunes on the stove and stew for 30 minutes.

  3. Press the stewed prunes through a sieve.

Make the pudding

  1. Add powdered sugar and vanilla to the prune puree.

  2. Fold in the egg whites gently.

  3. Pour the mixture into a serving dish and chill.

Serve

  1. Serve with cream.

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. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Vanilla + creamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

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

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

  5. Vanilla + eggtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together27,347 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

Vanilla and sugar 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 body, sweetness and flavour of the pudding once stewed and pureed.
Egg whites
Whipped structure that lightens the puree and helps it set into a soft, airy texture.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the puree and dissolves easily into it without graininess.
Cream
Adds richness and a cool, smooth contrast when served alongside the pudding.

The step that matters

Fold in the egg whites gently. Egg whites hold air only when whipped, and vigorous stirring knocks that air out. Gentle folding keeps the pudding light and prevents it from becoming 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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