Why it works: Butter and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,227 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Lemon Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the pudding
In a double boiler, combine egg yolks, butter, sugar, and lemon juice.
Cook until the mixture reaches a creamy consistency.
Line a bowl with lady fingers and pour the pudding over them.
Top and bake
Make a meringue by beating the egg whites until stiff peaks form and spread it over the pudding.
Brown the meringue lightly in a 350°F (175°C) oven.
Optionally, serve with whipped cream.
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.
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard and add richness as they set with gentle heat.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a smooth, rich texture in the pudding.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps stabilise the egg whites in the meringue.
- Lemon juice
- Provides acidity and the bright lemon flavour.
- Egg whites
- Whip into a foam that forms a light, airy meringue topping.
The step that matters
Cooking the custard in the double boiler. Egg yolks scramble if heated too quickly or too strongly. Gentle, indirect heat lets them thicken smoothly into a creamy custard instead of curdling.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonthe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Figfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, sugar. 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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