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Dessert

Cabinet Pudding

A gelatin-based pudding with egg yolks, sugar, almonds, claret wine, macaroons, candied cherries, and whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Cabinet Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the gelatine in cold water.

  2. Beat the egg yolks with sugar until well combined.

Make the custard

  1. Add the soaked gelatine and chopped almonds to the egg mixture.

  2. Boil the claret wine and pour it over the egg mixture.

  3. Bring the mixture to a boil and then pour it over the beaten egg whites.

Assemble and chill

  1. In a large cake pan or mold, layer the almond macaroons and candied cherries.

  2. Pour the pudding mixture over the layers.

  3. Refrigerate overnight before serving with whipped cream.

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

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

  2. Almond + creamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  3. Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  4. Wine + creamtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,887 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Gelatine
Sets the pudding so it holds its shape when turned out and sliced.
Egg yolks
Thicken the mixture and add richness to the custard base.
Egg whites
Add lightness and an airy structure to the set pudding.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and balances the wine.
Claret wine
Adds fruity depth and aroma to the custard.
Chopped almonds
Add nutty flavour and a bit of texture throughout the pudding.

The step that matters

Pouring the hot mixture over the beaten egg whites. Keep the hot mixture moving and pour it in a steady stream while whisking. This blends it in evenly, so the egg whites stay airy and do not cook into lumps, and the pudding sets smooth.

Swap the almond

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

  1. Almondthe original
  2. Chestnutfits about as well
  3. Hazelnutfits about as well
  4. Pistachiofits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, wine, cream. 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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