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 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the oranges
Remove the peels from the oranges and cut them into the thinnest possible slices.
Place the orange slices in a glass dish and scatter 2 tablespoons of white sugar over them.
Make the custard
In a saucepan, mix 1 tablespoon of corn starch with a little cold milk, then stir in 1 pint of boiling milk and the yolks of 3 eggs.
Add ⅓ cup of sugar to the custard mixture and let it cool.
Pour the cooled custard over the oranges.
Top and bake
Beat the egg whites until frothy, then gradually add ⅓ cup of powdered sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form.
Spread the meringue over the pudding.
Optionally, brown the meringue slightly in a 350°F (175°C) oven.
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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Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Orange + corntop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together586 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Orange + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,696 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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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
- Oranges
- Provide the main fruit flavour and a bright, tangy base for the pudding.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the milk into a smooth custard that sets the pudding's base.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the milk mixture so the custard holds its body when cooled.
- Egg whites
- Whip into a stiff foam that forms the light, sweet meringue topping.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard, giving it creaminess and body.
The step that matters
Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks. Sugar must be added gradually while beating so the whites form a stable foam. Under-beaten or greasy whites will not hold their shape and may weep or collapse on top of the pudding.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, milk, corn, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, corn, egg. 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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