Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Noodle Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the mixture
Put two ounces and a half of noodles in a pint of boiling milk and cook until stiff like mush, then remove from the fire.
Stir in one ounce and a half of butter, one ounce of sugar, two tablespoonfuls of finely chopped almonds, and a few drops of extract of almond.
When cool, add three eggs and a quarter of a cup of cream beaten together.
Bake
Turn the mixture into a well buttered mould sprinkled thoroughly with fine sifted bread crumbs.
Set the mould in a pan of boiling water in the oven.
Cover to prevent browning.
If the mould has a pipe through the center, bake for half an hour; if a plain mould, bake for three-quarters of an hour.
Serve
Turn out of the mould and serve hot with a sauce.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Cream | 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy | 51 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Almond | 1 almond (1.2g) | 7 |
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.
-
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Almond + creamtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,130 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
-
Almond + milktop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,800 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,679 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Noodles (in the method)
- Starch that cooks into a thick mush, giving the pudding its body and soft structure.
- Eggs
- Set when baked, binding the mixture into a firm, sliceable pudding.
- Milk
- Cooks the noodles and forms the liquid base that gives the pudding its moisture.
- Cream
- Adds richness and moisture, softening the set texture.
- Butter (in the method)
- Adds fat for richness and a tender crumb.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the savory-leaning noodle base.
The step that matters
When cool, add three eggs and the cream. Adding eggs to a very hot mixture can scramble them into lumps. Letting the base cool first lets the eggs blend smoothly, so they set evenly during baking.
Swap the almond
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, milk, cream, egg):
- Almondthe original
- Pecansfits about as well
- Pistachiofits less well
- Chestnutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, cream, 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.
You might also like
Almond Sponge Cake26 recipes
Almond Custard22 recipes
Almond Wafers22 recipes
Coconut Almond Cake17 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.