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Dessert

Caramel Pudding

A sweet pudding made with milk, egg, and caramelized sugar, finished with vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Caramel Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the caramel

  1. Melt sugar in a pan until it turns golden brown.

  2. Add water to the melted sugar and stir until dissolved.

Make the custard

  1. Scald the milk in a separate pot.

  2. Mix cornstarch with a little milk, then add to the scalded milk and cook for 5 minutes.

  3. Stir in the caramel mixture and the beaten egg, then cook for 1 more minute.

  4. Remove from heat and add vanilla.

Set and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a mold and let it set.

  2. Serve with whipped 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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

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

  4. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

  5. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

Vanilla and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Milk
Forms the body of the pudding and gives it a creamy, soft texture.
Egg
Helps thicken and set the custard as it cooks and gives it richness.
Sugar
Makes the caramel, adding sweetness and a deep toasted flavor.
Cornstarch (in the method)
Thickens the milk mixture so the pudding holds its shape when set.

The step that matters

Melt sugar until golden brown. Sugar darkens quickly once it passes golden, turning bitter and burnt. Pulling it at the right colour keeps the caramel sweet and balanced. Adding water afterward needs care because the hot syrup can spatter.

“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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