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 ↓
Cherry Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Rub the dried cherries into the flour.
In a bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar, milk, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt.
Combine the wet ingredients with the flour and cherries.
Cook and serve
Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.
Boil for 2 to 3 hours.
Serve with a wine sauce.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the main structure of the pudding batter.
- Dried cherries
- Add chewy texture and concentrated fruit sweetness throughout the pudding.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and help it set firm as it cooks.
- Granulated sugar
- Adds sweetness and contributes to a tender crumb.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar to produce gas that lightens the pudding.
- Cream of tartar
- Acid that activates the baking soda, helping the pudding rise.
The step that matters
Boil for 2 to 3 hours. The pudding must cook through gently and steadily; the liquid should keep boiling at a steady level so the batter sets evenly without drying out or becoming dense. Water levels need checking during the long cook.
“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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