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Dessert

Wine Pudding

A dessert made by layering macaroons and ladyfingers, topped with a wine‑sugar yolk sauce and whipped egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and cream 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 ↓

Wine Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Assemble

  1. In a bowl, layer the macaroons and split ladyfingers alternately.

Make the sauce

  1. In a saucepan, beat the egg yolks with sugar to taste.

  2. Add the red wine and a little water if the wine is very strong, then bring to a boil.

Finish and serve

  1. Pour the sauce over the layered cakes.

  2. Beat the egg whites and spread them on top, or add whipped cream for extra flavor.

  3. Serve immediately, as it should not sit for too long.

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.

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

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

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

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

  3. Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Red wine + creamtop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together257 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

  5. Sugar + red winetop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together864 recipes

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

Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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

Egg yolks
Thicken the wine sauce as they cook, giving it a smooth, custard-like body.
Red wine
Provides the main flavor and liquid base of the sauce.
Egg whites
Beaten and spread on top, they add a light, airy topping.
Macaroons
Soak up the sauce, softening into a moist, tender layer.
Lady fingers
Soak up the sauce, softening into a moist, tender layer.

The step that matters

Bringing the wine sauce to a boil. Egg yolks can scramble if overheated, and boiling the wine-and-yolk mixture too hard may curdle it. Heat gently while stirring so the yolks thicken it smoothly instead of turning 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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