Why it works: Milk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Macaroon Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Soak gelatine in 1 cup of sweet milk.
Beat egg yolks and mix with sugar and cornstarch.
Heat remaining milk until hot, then add soaked gelatine and cook until thick.
Remove from heat and let cool.
Set and serve
Fold in beaten egg whites, flavoring, cake coloring, and macaroons.
Pour mixture into a pan and let set for several hours before cutting into squares.
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.
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.
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Egg yolks thicken the custard and the beaten whites lighten the set pudding.
- Gelatine
- Sets the pudding so it holds its shape when cut into squares.
- Macaroons
- Add texture and a almond-like flavor to the pudding.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and balances the richness of the milk and eggs.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the custard along with the egg yolks.
The step that matters
Cooking the custard until thick. Egg yolks and cornstarch thicken as they heat, but overheating can scramble the eggs. Cook gently and stir, then let it cool before folding in the whites so the gelatine sets evenly.
“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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