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Dessert

French Semoulina Pudding

A baked semolina pudding made with milk, lemon rind, sugar, butter, eggs, and bitter almonds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Eliza Acton · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,655 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

French Semoulina Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Infuse the thin rind of a fresh lemon in a quart of new milk for half an hour.

  2. Bring the milk to a slow boil, simmer for four or five minutes, then remove the lemon rind.

  3. Stir in five ounces of semoulina, letting it boil over a gentle fire for ten minutes.

  4. Add four ounces of sugar, three ounces of fresh butter, and less than a small quarter‑teaspoonful of salt; boil for two or three minutes, stirring constantly.

Finish and bake

  1. Remove from the fire, let cool a little, then stir in the yolks of six eggs and the whites of four well‑beaten eggs.

  2. Add four or five bitter almonds, pounded with a little sugar, to heighten the flavor.

  3. When the pudding is nearly cold, pour it gently into a stewpan or mold prepared as for the Gâteau de Riz.

  4. Bake in a very gentle oven from an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

295Calories
15 gProtein
14 gFat
29 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Almond1 almond (1.2g)7
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 Eliza Acton. 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. Almond + lemontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

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

  3. Milk + almondtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,800 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

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

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

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

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

Semolina (in the method)
Thickens the milk into a firm, sliceable pudding as it boils.
Eggs
Set the pudding on baking and add richness and structure.
Butter (in the method)
Adds richness and a smooth, tender texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the pudding and softens its set.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the semolina thickens.

The step that matters

Stirring the semolina into the boiling milk. Semolina can clump and scorch if added too fast or left unstirred over heat. Keep the heat gentle and stir constantly so the starch swells evenly and the base thickens smoothly before the eggs are added.

Swap the almond

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

  1. Milletfits about as well
  2. Almondthe original
  3. Pistachiofits about as well
  4. Walnutfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, egg, lemon. 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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