Why it works: Corn and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,955 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓
Orange Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Peel and cut four oranges into pieces, and place them in a pudding dish.
Add two cups of sugar, a quart of milk, the yolks of three eggs, and two teaspoonfuls of corn starch to the dish. Bring the mixture to a boil.
Finish and bake
Remove from heat, cool, and pour the mixture over the oranges.
Beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth and spoon them over the pudding.
Bake until lightly browned.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| 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.
-
Corn + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
-
Corn + orangetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together586 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Milk + orangetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,696 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
-
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Eggs
- Yolks thicken the custard, and whites whip into a light, stiff topping.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the milk mixture as it heats into a custard.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base and gives the custard its creamy body.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and balances the tartness of the oranges.
- Oranges
- Add bright citrus flavour and acidity to the pudding.
The step that matters
Bring the mixture to a boil. Cornstarch thickens only when its granules are heated enough to swell and set the liquid. If the mixture does not reach a full boil, the custard stays thin and may not set properly.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, corn, milk, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, corn, milk, 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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