Name: Lemon Pudding
Ingredients: 1 good sized lemon, grated peel; 2 eggs; milk (enough to make a porridge-like consistency)

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 ↓

Lemon Pudding

Ingredients

1 good sized lemon, grated peel
2 eggs
milk (enough to make a porridge-like consistency)

Directions

Prepare

Grate the peel of the lemon.
In a bowl, combine the grated lemon peel, eggs, and enough milk to achieve a porridge-like consistency.

Cook and serve

Boil the mixture in a basin for one hour.
Serve with or without sauce.

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.

Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,053 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together88,785 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together44,316 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

Lemon and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 44,316 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: Bind the mixture and set into a firm, custard-like pudding when heated.
Lemon peel: Adds the bright, aromatic lemon flavour to the pudding.
Milk: Provides moisture and loosens the mixture to a porridge-like consistency.