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Dessert

Caramel Puddings

A custard pudding flavored with vanilla and lemon, set in caramel-coated moulds and steamed until firm.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla 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 ↓

Caramel Puddings

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk or cream, 2 oz. sugar, and vanilla until well combined.

  2. Strain the mixture to create a smooth custard.

Caramelize and steam

  1. Divide 2 oz. sugar and lemon juice between eight small dariol moulds.

  2. Place the moulds on the stove until the sugar caramelizes, then remove and let the caramel coat the inside of the moulds.

  3. Pour the custard into the moulds and steam for about 20 minutes until firm.

Serve

  1. Turn out the puddings and serve hot or cold.

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. Milk + vanillatop 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. Vanilla + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,961 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 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
Set the custard into a firm, sliceable structure as they cook.
Milk or single cream
Provides moisture and a smooth, tender texture to the custard.
Sugar
Sweetens the pudding and melts into the caramel that coats the moulds.
Lemon juice
Adds a touch of acidity and helps keep the caramel from crystallizing.
Vanilla
Adds aroma and a rounded flavor to the custard.

The step that matters

Caramelizing the sugar on the stove. Sugar goes from amber to burnt very quickly, and burnt caramel tastes bitter. Watching the colour closely and removing the moulds as soon as the sugar turns golden keeps the caramel sweet and evenly coated.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, milk, sugar, vanilla):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Peachfits better
  3. Blueberryfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, sugar, vanilla. 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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