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Dessert

Citron Pudding

A sweet dessert made with sugar, butter, eggs, lemon juice and zest, brandy, spices, and slices of citron.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,127 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Citron Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. In a saucepan, combine sugar and butter over medium heat.

  2. Add eggs, lemon juice, and lemon zest, stirring until thick like molasses.

Finish and serve

  1. Remove from heat and mix in brandy and spices.

  2. Fold in slices of citron before serving.

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. Butter + brandytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,127 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Egg + brandytop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,340 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Thicken the mixture as they cook and set, giving the pudding its body.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, silky texture to the mixture.
Sugar
Sweetens the pudding and helps stabilise the mixture as it thickens.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the sweetness.
Citron
Adds candied citrus pieces that provide chew and a bright, aromatic flavour.

The step that matters

Thickening over medium heat. Eggs thicken gently as their proteins set; if the heat is too high or they are stirred too little, they can curdle and turn grainy. Keep the heat moderate and stir steadily until the mixture coats a spoon.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Apricotfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, egg, brandy. 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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