Skip to main content
Dessert

Frozen Pudding

A chilled dessert made from milk, sugar, egg, gelatin, cream, rum, and French fruit.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Gelatin and cream match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,628 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Frozen Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Soak the gelatin in enough water to cover it.

  2. Scald the milk in a double boiler.

  3. Beat the egg with half of the sugar and the flour together.

  4. Pour the scalded milk over the egg mixture.

  5. Return to the double boiler.

  6. Stir constantly until thickened and smooth.

  7. Remove from heat.

  8. Add the gelatin.

Cool and freeze

  1. Let it cool.

  2. Once cool, add the cream and remaining sugar (dissolved in the cream) and the rum.

  3. Strain into the freezer.

  4. When nearly frozen, add the fruit cut into very small pieces.

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. Gelatin + creamtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,628 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  2. Sugar + gelatintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Milk + rumtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together967 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  5. Sugar + rumtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,908 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Thicken the custard base as they cook and add richness.
Gelatin
Sets the mixture so the frozen pudding holds a smooth, firm texture.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard.
Cream
Adds fat and richness, giving a smoother, softer frozen texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and softens the texture of the frozen dessert.
Flour
Thickens the custard along with the egg.

The step that matters

Stir constantly until thickened and smooth. Egg proteins can scramble if the custard overheats or sits still, leaving lumps. Constant stirring over gentle heat keeps the custard smooth and evenly thickened before it is cooled and frozen.

“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.

You might also like

White CakeWhite Cake431 recipesPound CakePound Cake373 recipesOrange Bundt CakeOrange Bundt Cake349 recipesSpice CakeSpice Cake344 recipes