Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Queen of Puddings
Ingredients
Directions
Make the pudding base
Combine one pint of fine bread crumbs, one quart of milk, one cup of sugar, yolks of four eggs, grated rind of one lemon, and a piece of butter the size of an ^^^.
Bake until done, but not watery.
Spread a layer of jelly over the baked pudding.
Make the meringue and serve
Whip the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth.
Beat in one teacup of sugar and the juice of one lemon.
Spread the mixture upon the top and brown.
Serve cold, with or without sauce.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Lemon | juice of 1 lemon (48ml) | 12 |
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.
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
-
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
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
- Bread crumbs
- Form the body of the pudding and soak up the milk to set a soft custard.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that the eggs set into a custard.
- Eggs
- Yolks set the custard, while whipped whites form the light topping.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the whipped whites hold a stable foam.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat for a tender, smooth custard.
The step that matters
Bake until done, but not watery. Underbaked custard stays loose and weeps liquid, while overbaking makes egg proteins tighten and curdle. Baking until just set gives a firm but tender base for the topping.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, butter, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Coconutfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, 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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