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Dessert

Transparent Pudding

A translucent pudding made with eggs, powdered sugar, butter, nutmeg, and orange flower.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Randolph · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Orange and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,746 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Transparent Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Beat eight eggs very light.

  2. Add half a pound of powdered sugar.

  3. Add the same amount of fresh butter melted.

  4. Add half a nutmeg grated.

  5. Cook it on a stove, keeping it stirred until it thickens like buttered eggs.

Bake and serve

  1. Put puff pastry in a shallow dish.

  2. Pour the mixture into the dish.

  3. Bake for half an hour in a moderate oven.

  4. Sift sugar over the pudding.

  5. Serve hot.

Make the cream sauce

  1. Combine one measure of jelly, one measure of cream, and half a measure of wine.

  2. Boil the mixture for fifteen minutes over a slow fire, stirring all the time.

  3. Sweeten the mixture.

  4. Add a spoonful of orange flower or rose water.

  5. Cool the mixture in a mould.

  6. Turn it onto a dish.

  7. Pour cream around it, seasoned as desired.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

201Calories
8 gProtein
6 gFat
29 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Orange Flower1 medium (131g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Mary Randolph. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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.

  1. Orange + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,746 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Egg + nutmegtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together24,744 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Sugar + nutmegtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together23,364 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  4. Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,212 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Egg and nutmeg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 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
Beaten eggs thicken on heat and set the custard so it holds its shape.
Butter (in the method)
Melted butter adds richness and smooth moisture to the custard.
Sugar
Sugar sweetens the pudding and helps it brown lightly on top.
Cream (in the method)
Cream adds richness and moisture to the sauce poured around the pudding.
Nutmeg
Grated nutmeg adds warm aroma to the custard.

The step that matters

Cooking the egg mixture on the stove. Eggs thicken as their proteins set with heat, but too much heat or too little stirring can curdle or scramble them. Keep the heat gentle and stir constantly until the mixture coats a spoon.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, nutmeg):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Lemonfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, nutmeg. 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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