Why it works: Milk and corn are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,955 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓
Orange Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the oranges
Peel and slice the oranges thinly, removing the seeds.
Pour 1 cup of sugar over the oranges.
Make the custard
In a double boiler, heat the sweet milk.
Add the beaten egg yolks to the milk and stir constantly.
Dissolve the corn starch in a little cold milk and add it along with ¼ cup sugar.
Cook the mixture well and pour it over the oranges.
Top and brown
Beat the egg whites to a stiff froth and gradually add 3 tablespoons of sugar.
Spread the egg white mixture on top of the pudding.
Place in the oven at 400°F (200°C) for a few moments to brown.
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.
-
Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
-
Orange + corntop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together586 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Orange + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,696 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
-
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and milk 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
- Sweet oranges
- Provide the main fruit flavour and the bulk of the pudding's base.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the milk into a rich custard and add richness.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the custard so it holds its body when poured over the fruit.
- Egg whites
- Whip into a stiff foam that forms a light topping which browns in the oven.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the oranges, custard and meringue topping.
The step that matters
Cook the custard well before pouring it over the oranges. Cornstarch thickens only when it is heated enough to swell and gelatinise, and the egg yolks must be cooked to thicken without curdling. Undercooked starch leaves a thin, runny layer, so the custard should be cooked until smooth and clearly thickened before it is poured over the fruit.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, milk, egg, corn):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, egg, corn. 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.
More orange pudding recipes
You might also like
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Orange Cream Rice Pudding121 recipes
Orange Gelatin100 recipes
Corn Cake90 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.