Why it works: Plum and apricot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 284 recipes. Both carry damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Frozen Pudding or Tutti-frutti
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Make vanilla ice cream using heavy cream.
Once the ice cream is frozen, mix in the chopped candied fruits soaked in sherry or maraschino and brandy.
Freeze and serve
Turn the mixture into a mold.
Pack the mold in ice and coarse sea salt for 2 hours before serving.
Alternatively, serve directly from the freezer.
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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Plum + apricottop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together284 recipes
Shared aroma: damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sherry + brandytop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,209 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Apricot + brandytop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together513 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Apricot + sherrytop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together173 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
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Plum + sherrytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together58 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Heavy cream
- Its fat and whipped air give the frozen pudding a rich, creamy texture.
- Candied plums, apricots, and cherries
- Adds concentrated sweetness, fruity flavor, and chewy bits throughout the frozen dessert.
- Sherry or maraschino
- Adds aroma and sweetness, and its alcohol keeps the frozen texture softer.
- Brandy
- Adds warm aroma and alcohol that keeps the frozen texture softer and scoopable.
The step that matters
Mixing in the soaked fruit after the ice cream is frozen. Alcohol lowers the freezing point, so the fruit and its soaking liquid can keep the mixture from firming properly. Folding them in only once the base is frozen keeps the texture firm and the fruit evenly distributed.
Swap the plum
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, apricot, sherry, brandy):
- Vanillafits better
- Strawberryfits about as well
- Plumthe original
- Figfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, apricot, sherry, brandy. 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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