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Dessert

Farina Pudding

A wholesome, delicate pudding made with milk, farina, sugar, eggs, and lemon zest.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Ronald · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,053 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Farina Pudding

six people

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Put the milk and lemon zest into a double boiler.

  2. When it reaches the boiling point, stir in the farina and cook for five minutes.

  3. Remove from the fire and turn it onto the yolks and sugar, which have been beaten together until light. Stir all the time.

  4. Let it become cool but not stiff.

Bake and serve

  1. When ready to bake it, fold in lightly the whites of the eggs beaten to a stiff froth, a dash of salt added to them before beating.

  2. Turn it into a pudding-dish and place the dish in a pan containing enough hot water to half cover it.

  3. Bake it in a moderately hot oven for twenty-five minutes.

  4. Serve at once, or, like other souffles, it will fall.

  5. Serve with it a sabayon No. 2, or a meringue sauce.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

288Calories
15 gProtein
13 gFat
29 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

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 + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

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

  2. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

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

  3. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  4. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

  5. Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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 enrich and thicken the base, while whipped whites lighten it and give it rise.
Farina
Starch thickens the milk into a set, spoonable base for the pudding.
Milk
Liquid base that the farina thickens and the eggs enrich.
Sugar
Sweetens the pudding and helps the yolks beat to a light, smooth mixture.

The step that matters

Serve at once. Like other soufflés, the pudding loses its risen structure as it cools, so it will fall if left to wait.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits about as well
  3. Raisinfits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, 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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