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Dessert

Corn Starch Pudding

A sweet pudding made with corn starch, milk, sugar, eggs, butter, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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 Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the pudding

  1. In a bowl, mix corn starch with a little water until smooth.

  2. Add the boiling water to the corn starch mixture and stir well.

  3. Beat the egg whites to a froth and gently fold them into the mixture.

  4. Cook over low heat for a few minutes, beating steadily until thickened.

Make the sauce

  1. For the sauce, boil the milk in a saucepan.

  2. In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks with sugar and a little flour.

  3. Gradually add the hot milk to the egg mixture, stirring constantly.

  4. Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook until thickened.

  5. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

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

  4. Corn + vanillatop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,943 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  5. Corn + milktop 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

Corn starch
Thickens the liquid as its starch granules swell and set when heated.
Egg whites
Whipped to a froth, they add lightness and a softer, airy texture.
Milk
Provides the liquid base and creaminess of the sauce.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and softens the texture of the custard.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel to the finished sauce.

The step that matters

Cooking the corn starch mixture over low heat while beating. Starch needs steady heat and constant stirring to thicken evenly. Stirring keeps it from forming lumps or scorching on the base of the pan.

“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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