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Dessert

Yankee Pudding

A gelatin-based dessert made with eggs, sugar, vanilla, milk, and custard poured over the set pudding.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Yankee Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the gelatine mixture

  1. Dissolve the gelatine in cold water.

  2. Add the sugar and whisked egg whites until very light.

  3. Stir in the vanilla.

  4. Pour the mixture into molds.

Make the custard

  1. Make a custard with the egg yolks, 1 cup of sugar, and 1 pint of sweet milk.

  2. Cook the custard until it thickens.

  3. Let the custard cool.

Serve

  1. Turn the pudding out into a dish.

  2. Pour the custard over the pudding before serving.

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. Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  3. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

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

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

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Eggs
Whites whipped into the mixture add lightness and airy structure; yolks enrich the custard.
Gelatine
Sets the liquid mixture so the pudding holds its shape when turned out.
White sugar
Adds sweetness and helps sweeten both the pudding and the custard.
Sweet milk
Forms the base of the custard, providing richness and a smooth, thickened texture.

The step that matters

Cook the custard until it thickens. Egg proteins set as the custard heats, thickening it. Stop heating too early and it stays runny; heat too hard and the eggs can scramble.

“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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