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Dessert

White Cornstarch Pudding

A custard-like pudding made with milk, sugar, cornstarch, egg whites, and vanilla, served with a custard sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 ↓

White Cornstarch Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the pudding

  1. Combine milk, sugar, cornstarch, and a pinch of salt in a saucepan.

  2. Boil until thickened.

  3. Remove from heat.

  4. Stir in beaten egg whites and vanilla extract.

  5. Pour into a mold.

  6. Refrigerate until set.

Make the custard sauce and serve

  1. Heat milk and sugar in a saucepan for the custard sauce.

  2. Whisk in egg yolks.

  3. Cook until thickened.

  4. Serve with the pudding.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

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

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

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

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

  3. Sugar + saucetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,147 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

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

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

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

Cornstarch
Thickens the milk as it boils, giving the pudding its firm, sliceable body.
Egg whites
Stirred in after cooking to add lightness and help the pudding hold its shape.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the cornstarch thickens and the custard sauce is made from.
Egg yolks
Thicken the custard sauce as they cook and add richness.

The step that matters

Cook the custard sauce until thickened. Egg yolks can curdle or scramble if overheated. Cooking gently and stirring keeps the sauce smooth while the yolk proteins set and thicken it.

“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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