Why it works: Sugar and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Victoria Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the filling
Boil the fruit with ½ cup sugar.
Mix the yolks of 4 eggs with the fruit and pour into a pie dish.
Top and bake
Beat the whites of 4 eggs to a stiff froth, adding ⅓ cup fine white sugar and a few drops of essence.
Spread the egg white mixture smoothly over the fruit in the dish.
Slightly brown in a 350°F (175°C) oven.
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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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
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the fruit mixture and add richness to the filling.
- Egg whites
- Whip into a stiff foam that forms a light topping and browns in the oven.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the fruit and, whipped into the whites, stabilises the meringue-like topping.
The step that matters
Beating the egg whites to a stiff froth. Egg whites must be whipped until they hold stiff peaks, because the foam traps air that gives the topping its lightness. Under-whipped whites will sink into the fruit, and over-whipped whites turn dry and grainy.
“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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