Why it works: Sugar and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Prune Pie
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 the filling
Stew prunes in a little water until soft.
Remove the stones and mash the prunes until smooth.
Beat the egg whites and gradually mix in the prune pulp.
Line a pie plate with the crust.
Bake and serve
Fill the crust with the prune mixture and bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 15 minutes.
Frost the pie with the remaining beaten egg whites before serving.
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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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Prunes
- Provide the main body, sweetness and fruity flavour of the filling.
- Egg whites
- Add airy structure to the filling and form a light topping when beaten.
The step that matters
Gradually mix in the prune pulp. Adding pulp slowly to beaten egg whites keeps the foam from collapsing, so the filling stays light and airy rather than dense and runny.
“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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