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Dessert

Corn-starch Puddings

A sweet pudding made from milk, corn starch, sugar, eggs, and vanilla, cooked until thickened and molded.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Ronald · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Corn-starch Puddings

eight persons

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Beat the eggs to a stiff froth.

  2. Dissolve the corn starch in a little of the cold milk.

  3. Stir the sugar into the rest of the milk, and place it on the fire.

  4. When it begins to boil, add the dissolved corn starch.

  5. Stir constantly for a few moments.

  6. When it becomes well thickened, stir in the beaten whites of the eggs.

  7. Let it remain a little longer to cook the eggs.

  8. Remove from the fire; flavor with vanilla, and turn it into a mold.

Add the fruit and coconut

  1. When the corn starch is sufficiently set to hold the fruit in place, stir into it lightly one half can of well-drained fruit.

  2. Turn it into a mold to harden.

  3. Serve the juice of the fruit with it as a sauce.

  4. When the corn starch is removed from the fire, and partly cooled, add half a coconut grated.

  5. Mix it well together and turn into a mold.

  6. Serve with a custard or, better, with whipped cream.

  7. Sprinkle sugar over the half of the grated coconut not used, and spread it on a sieve to dry.

Make the chocolate and layers

  1. When the corn starch is taken from the fire and flavored, turn one third of it into a saucepan.

  2. Mix with it one and a half ounces or squares of chocolate melted, a tablespoonful of sugar if unsweetened chocolate is used, and a half cupful of stoned raisins.

  3. Let it cook one minute to set the chocolate.

  4. Turn into a plain cylindrical mold one half of the white corn starch.

  5. Make it a smooth, even layer, keeping the edges clean.

  6. Add the chocolate; smooth it in the same way.

  7. Add the rest of the white corn starch, making three even layers, alternating in color.

  8. After each layer is in, wipe the sides of the mold so no speck of one color will deface the other.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

505Calories
16 gProtein
22 gFat
59 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 8 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Chocolate1 oz (28g) semisweet155
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12
Puddingnot in our table0
Fruitnot in our table0

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

By Mary Ronald. 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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Vanilla + chocolatetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  4. Vanilla + corntop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,943 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  5. Milk + corntop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
Whites are beaten and folded in to add structure and a light, custardy richness.
Corn starch
Thickens the milk as it heats, setting the pudding into a firm, sliceable body.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the starch thickens into the pudding.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the flavor of the milk and chocolate.
Chocolate
Adds flavor and color to the chocolate layer of the pudding.

The step that matters

Stir constantly after adding the dissolved corn starch. Starch granules can clump and scorch on the bottom of the pan if not stirred while the milk heats. Constant stirring keeps the mixture smooth as it thickens.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, vanilla, chocolate, corn, egg):

  1. Coconutfits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Cherryfits better
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, vanilla, chocolate, corn, 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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