Why it works: Lemon and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 44,316 recipes. Both carry (e,e)-2,4-decadienal, which smells fatty, deep fried. The science ↓
Snow Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the snow
Prepare a lemon or orange jelly and let it begin to thicken.
Whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Beat the jelly and egg whites together vigorously until the mixture is stiff enough to drop from a spoon.
Mold and serve
Mold the mixture and serve it with custard 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.
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.
-
Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
-
Lemon + saucetop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,598 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Egg + saucetop 39% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together10,895 recipes
Lemon and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 44,316 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
- Lemon or orange jelly
- Sets into a light, firm base that gives the pudding its body.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into foam, they add airy lightness and volume to the pudding.
- Custard sauce
- Adds a smooth, creamy contrast to the light, airy pudding.
The step that matters
Beating the jelly and egg whites together. The jelly must be partly set but still liquid enough to fold with the whites. If it is too cold and firm, it will not blend and the mixture stays lumpy. If it is too warm and runny, the foam collapses and the pudding will not hold its shape.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sauce):
- Raisinfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
- Avocadofits about as well
- Pumpkinfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sauce. 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.
More snow pudding recipes
You might also like
Lemon Cake228 recipes
Lemon Ice147 recipes
Lemon Sherbet103 recipes
Lemon Custard64 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.