Why it works: Bread and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 22,662 recipes. Both carry (e)-2-octenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Orange Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the base
Cover the bread crumbs with milk.
Add the rind and juice of the orange and the beaten yolks of the eggs.
Finish the mixture
Beat the whites until stiff.
Add the sugar and beat, then add to the mixture.
Bake and serve
Bake in a buttered mould.
Set in a pan of hot water.
Bake until firm.
Serve with golden sauce.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Orange | 1 medium (131g) | 62 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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. See the original page.
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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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
-
Bread + orangetop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,084 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Egg + orangetop 31% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together10,696 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Sugar and orange barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 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
- Bread crumbs
- Soak up the milk to form the soft body of the pudding.
- Eggs
- Yolks enrich and set the custard, while beaten whites add lightness and rise.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps stabilise the beaten whites.
- Orange
- Rind and juice add aroma and a bright citrus acidity.
The step that matters
Adding the stiff whites to the mixture. Beaten whites trap air that gives the pudding its lightness. Folding them in gently, rather than stirring hard, keeps that air from collapsing and leaving the pudding dense.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Datesfits better
- Figfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, sugar, 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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