Why it works: Cocoa and vanilla work together. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 357 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓
Orange Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the oranges
Peel and slice the oranges thinly.
Sprinkle sugar and cocoa nut between each layer of orange.
Make the custard
In a saucepan, heat the milk with vanilla or lemon until scalding hot.
Beat the egg yolks and mix with corn-starch dissolved in a little cold milk.
Stir the egg mixture into the hot milk until it thickens, then pour over the oranges.
Top, bake and serve
Beat the egg whites to a froth, add sugar, and spread over the pudding.
Place in a 400°F (200°C) oven for a few minutes to brown slightly.
Let cool and serve cold.
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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Cocoa + vanillatop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together357 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
-
Orange + vanillatop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,371 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Vanilla + corntop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,943 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the milk mixture into a smooth custard as they set with heat.
- Corn-starch
- Thickens the milk so the custard holds its body over the oranges.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to a froth, they form a light topping that browns in the oven.
- Oranges
- Provide the fruity base and acidity that the sweet custard balances.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard, giving richness and body.
The step that matters
Stirring the egg mixture into the hot milk. Egg yolks can curdle or scramble if they meet very hot liquid too quickly. Stirring constantly while adding the mixture gradually keeps the custard smooth as the starch and yolk proteins thicken it.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cocoa, milk, vanilla, egg, corn):
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits better
- Strawberryfits about as well
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cocoa, milk, vanilla, egg, corn. 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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