Why it works: Butter and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Rich Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
In a saucepan, combine the butter, sugar, marmalade, and beaten eggs.
Stir the mixture continuously until it is thoroughly warmed, but do not let it boil.
Pour the mixture into a dish lined with puff pastry and bake.
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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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Adds richness and a tender, smooth texture to the filling.
- Sugar
- Provides sweetness and helps the filling set with a soft, glossy texture.
- Marmalade
- Adds sweetness, bitter-citrus acidity, and aroma that flavours the whole pudding.
- Eggs
- Set with gentle heat to thicken the filling and give it structure.
The step that matters
Stir the mixture continuously without letting it boil. Egg proteins thicken when gently warmed but curdle and turn grainy when overheated. Constant stirring spreads the heat evenly, so the custard-like filling stays smooth.
“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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