Why it works: Lemon and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,053 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Snow Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the jelly
Dissolve the gelatine in ½ pint of cold water.
Add the remaining ½ pint of boiling water and stir until dissolved.
Mix in the sugar and lemon juice, then strain the mixture.
Once cooled and beginning to thicken, beat until frothy.
Fold in the beaten egg whites until well combined.
Pour into cups or a mold and refrigerate to cool.
Make the custard and serve
To make the custard, heat the milk and whisk in the egg yolks until thickened.
Pour the custard around the pudding just before serving.
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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Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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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 + milktop 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).
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Lemon + eggtop 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
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid into a light, wobbly structure as it cools.
- Egg whites
- Beaten into the mixture to create a light, frothy, airy texture.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the milk into a smooth custard.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the lemon juice.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity and bright flavour that offsets the sweetness.
- Milk
- Forms the base of the custard sauce.
The step that matters
Beating the jelly as it cools. Beat only once the mixture is cooled and just beginning to thicken. If it is still warm, the egg whites will deflate and the froth will not hold, so the pudding will be dense rather than light.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Raisinfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, milk. 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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