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Dessert

Vanilla Pudding

A steamed pudding made from sponge cakes or biscuits, macaroons, eggs, cream, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Biscuit and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 422 recipes. Both carry maltol, which smells caramel, sweet. The science ↓

Vanilla Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Rub the sponge cakes or biscuits through a sieve.

  2. Pound the macaroons and mix with the sponge cake or biscuit crumbs in a bowl.

  3. Add the egg yolks and 2 whisked egg whites, then beat the mixture well.

  4. Stir in the cream and essence of vanilla.

  5. Whisk the remaining 2 egg whites to a froth and fold into the mixture.

Steam and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a buttered mold lined with buttered paper.

  2. Steam for about 1 hour or place the mold in a vessel half full of boiling water, cover with buttered paper, and bake in a brisk oven for 1 hour.

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.

  1. Biscuit + vanillatop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together422 recipes

    Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).

  2. Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  3. Biscuit + creamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,235 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

  4. Egg + vanillatop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together27,347 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  5. Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Cream and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,301 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

Sponge cakes or biscuits
Provide the bulk and crumb that the pudding sets around.
Macaroons
Add almond flavour and body to the crumb base.
Egg yolks
Enrich the custard and help the pudding set as it cooks.
Egg whites
Whipped to a froth, they lighten the mixture and give it rise.
Cream
Adds richness and moisture, producing a softer, tender texture.

The step that matters

Folding in the whipped egg whites. Whites deflate if overmixed or stirred vigorously, losing the air that lightens the pudding. Fold gently so the mixture stays airy through steaming.

“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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