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Dessert

Thanksgiving Pudding

A gelatin dessert set in a charlotte russe mold, with candied cherries arranged to spell THANKSGIVING.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Gelatin and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,778 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Thanksgiving Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the jelly

  1. Soak the gelatin in ½ cup cold water for 2 hours.

  2. In a bowl, combine the soaked gelatin with 1 quart of water, 1 pint of boiling water, sugar, and lemon juice.

  3. Place the bowl in a pan of boiling water for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

  4. Strain the mixture through a napkin.

Prepare the mold

  1. Prepare a 2-quart charlotte russe mold in a large pan surrounded by broken ice.

  2. Pour about ½ cup of the strained liquid into the mold.

  3. Cut the candied cherries into small pieces.

  4. Print the word 'THANKSGIVING' on thin paper and trace it backward on a window pane.

Decorate and finish

  1. Once the jelly layer in the mold is congealed, place the cut cherries according to the tracing.

  2. Cover the cherries with 4 tablespoons of liquid jelly.

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. Gelatin + sugartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Lemon + peachtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together947 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Wine + lemontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,157 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Wine + peachtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together218 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  5. Sugar + peachtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,308 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Gelatin
Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable jelly as it cools.
Sugar
Sweetens the jelly and balances the tartness of the lemon juice.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor of the sweet jelly.
Candied cherries
Add sweetness and color to the decorative lettering pattern.

The step that matters

Placing the cherries on the partly set layer. Gelatin sets as it cools, so the first layer must be congealed enough to hold the cherries in place but still tacky so the next pour bonds to it. If it is too liquid, the cherries shift or sink; if it is too firm, the layers will not join cleanly.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (gelatin, wine, sugar, peach):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Apricotfits better
  3. Raspberryfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against gelatin, wine, sugar, peach. 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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