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Dessert

Jelly Puddings

A baked dessert made with biscuit crumbs, milk, eggs, baking soda, and jelly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Biscuit and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,235 recipes. Both carry octanal, which smells fat, soap. The science ↓

Jelly Puddings

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

  1. Scald the milk and pour it over the crumbs.

  2. Beat the mixture until it is half cold.

  3. Stir in the beaten egg yolks, then the egg whites, and finally the baking soda.

Bake and fill

  1. Fill large cups half full with the batter.

  2. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for half an hour.

  3. When done, turn out quickly and carefully.

  4. Make an incision in the side of each pudding, pull it partly open, and add a spoonful of conserve inside.

  5. Close the slit by pinching the edges with your fingers.

  6. Serve warm with sweetened cream.

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

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

  2. Biscuit + milktop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,332 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  3. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Cream and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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

Biscuit or bread crumbs
Form the bulk of the batter and absorb the scalded milk to create a soft, tender body.
Milk
Softens the crumbs and adds moisture and richness to the batter.
Eggs
Bind the batter and set during baking to give the puddings their structure and lift.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acid in the batter to help the puddings rise and lighten.
Jelly, jam, or marmalade
Adds sweetness and fruity flavour in the filling that contrasts with the plain batter.

The step that matters

Fill and close the puddings after baking. Opening the warm puddings and sealing them again must be done quickly and gently, because the set crumb-and-egg structure tears easily while hot and the filling can leak out if the slit is not pinched closed.

“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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