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 ↓
Cream Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Beat the eggs until frothy.
Stir in the sugar and grated lemon rind.
Mix the milk, flour, and salt in a separate bowl.
Combine the egg mixture with the milk mixture.
Bake and serve
Just before baking, fold in the thick cream.
Bake in cups or pudding dishes.
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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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Milk and flour 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
- Eggs
- Provide structure and richness, setting the pudding as they cook.
- Flour
- Thickens the batter so the pudding holds its shape after baking.
- Milk
- Supplies the liquid that the flour and eggs bind into a custard-like batter.
- Thick cream
- Adds fat and richness, giving a softer, more tender texture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps browning on the surface.
The step that matters
Fold in the thick cream just before baking. Cream is added last so it is not overworked or deflated; gentle folding keeps air and body in the batter, and waiting until just before baking keeps the mixture from sitting and losing its lift.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, milk, flour, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, milk, flour, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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