Why it works: Orange and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,437 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
A Very Nice Custard Pudding
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 custard base
Scald 1 quart of the milk.
Pour it over the bread crumbs and let it stand for a few minutes.
Mash the bread crumbs very fine.
Add the butter, sugar, and the remaining milk.
Grate in the orange peel.
Beat the eggs until very light, then pour them into the mixture and stir well.
Bake and serve
Pour the mixture into a pudding dish and sprinkle a little cinnamon on top.
Place the dish in a shallow pan of hot water and set it in the oven at 350°F (175°C).
As the water boils away, add more hot water until the pudding is done. Check doneness by inserting a silver spoon; if it comes out solid, it's ready.
Let it cool.
Serve with wine 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.
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Orange + cinnamontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,437 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
-
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Butter + cinnamontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,784 recipes
Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Set the custard into a soft, sliceable structure as they cook.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the bread and eggs set within.
- Baker's loaf crumbs
- Absorb the milk and give the pudding body and a soft, bready texture.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a tender, smooth mouthfeel.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps balance the eggs and milk.
The step that matters
Cooking in a water bath. Eggs turn grainy and watery when baked too hot. The shallow pan of hot water keeps the custard's temperature gentle, so it sets evenly and stays smooth. Keep the water hot and topped up, as the record directs.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, egg, butter, sugar, cinnamon):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, butter, sugar, cinnamon. 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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