Why it works: Corn and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,927 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Lemon 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.
Make the custard base
In a saucepan, combine sugar and boiling water.
Mix corn starch with a little cold water until smooth, then add to the saucepan.
Stir until the mixture thickens, then beat in the butter.
Reserve the whites of 2 eggs.
Beat the remaining white and 3 yolks with the lemon juice and grated rind.
Pour the corn starch mixture into the egg mixture and blend well.
Bake and top
Pour into a pudding dish and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 20 minutes.
Beat the reserved egg whites with 1 cup sugar and ½ teaspoon lemon juice.
Spread the egg white mixture on top of the pudding and return to the oven to brown for a few moments.
Serve cold.
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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Corn + lemontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,927 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Corn + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,345 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Corn starch
- Thickens the liquid into a smooth, set custard as it heats.
- Eggs
- Yolks enrich and set the custard; whites form the browned meringue topping.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps stabilise the meringue topping.
- Lemon
- Provides the acidity and aroma from juice and grated rind.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, rounded flavour to the custard.
The step that matters
Stir the cornstarch mixture until it thickens. Cornstarch only thickens fully when it is heated while stirred, and it must boil to reach full thickening power. Stopping early leaves the custard thin and runny after it sets in the oven.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (corn, sugar, butter, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against corn, sugar, butter, egg. 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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