Name: Ratafia Pudding
Ingredients: 2 ounces blanched almonds; 1 teaspoon rose-water; 2 ounces ratafia cakes; 6 egg yolks; 2 egg whites; ⅔ cup wine; 1 pint thick cream; 1 ounce loaf sugar; puff pastry for lining

Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Ratafia 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

Pound the almonds with rose-water until smooth.
Crush the ratafia cakes and mix with the almond paste.
Add the egg yolks, egg whites, wine, cream, and loaf sugar; mix well.
Line a baking dish with puff pastry.

Bake

Pour the mixture into the dish and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 45 minutes.

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.

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.

Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Almond + rosetop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,465 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Almond + creamtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,130 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,679 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Rose + winetop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together438 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks: Add richness and help the custard set when baked.
Egg whites: Add structure and lightness to the custard as it sets.
Thick cream: Adds fat and richness, giving the custard a smooth, tender texture.
Blanched almonds: Form a smooth paste that gives body and a nutty flavour to the filling.
Ratafia cakes: Add a crisp, almond-like flavour and some body to the filling.

The step that matters

Pour the mixture into the dish and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 45 minutes.. Egg-based custards set through gentle heat. Too much heat makes the eggs curdle and turn grainy, so the custard should be baked at a moderate temperature until just set in the centre.

“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.