Name: The Duchesses Pudding
Ingredients: ½ pound potatoes, very smoothly mashed; ¾ pound mincemeat; grated rind of ½ lemon; 2 teaspoons sugar; 4 large eggs or 5 small eggs; clarified butter and sugar for topping

Why it works: Potato and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,230 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

The Duchesses Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

½ pound potatoes, very smoothly mashed
¾ pound mincemeat
grated rind of ½ lemon
2 teaspoons sugar
4 large eggs or 5 small eggs
clarified butter and sugar for topping

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the pudding

Mix the mashed potatoes, mincemeat, lemon rind, sugar, and eggs until well combined.
Pour the mixture into a well-buttered dish.
Top with clarified butter and sugar.

Bake

Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes at 350°F (175°C).

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.

Potato + lemontop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,230 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,456 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,227 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes: Provide the bulk and body of the pudding, setting it into a soft, spoonable texture.
Eggs: Bind the mixture and help it set as it bakes.
Mincemeat: Supplies the main sweet, spiced filling flavour.
Clarified butter: Adds richness and helps the sugared topping brown.