Why it works: Milk and corn are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,955 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. 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, removing the seeds.
Sprinkle the oranges with 1 cup of sugar.
Make the custard
Heat the milk in a pot of boiling water until boiling.
In a bowl, beat the egg yolks and mix with corn starch and a little cold milk until smooth.
Stir the egg mixture into the boiling milk, stirring constantly until thickened.
Pour the thickened mixture over the oranges.
Top and bake
Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks, adding 1 tablespoon of sugar, and spread over the top.
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for a few minutes to harden the frosting.
Serve cold or hot, but it's better 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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Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
-
Orange + corntop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together586 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Orange + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,696 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Milk + eggtop 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).
Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Sweet oranges
- Provide the fruit base and bright citrus flavour under the custard.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard and give it a rich, smooth texture.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the milk mixture so it sets into a sliceable custard.
- Egg whites
- Whip into a stiff meringue that forms a light topping and browns in the oven.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard, adding softness and body.
- White sugar
- Sweetens the oranges and balances their acidity.
The step that matters
Stirring the egg mixture into the boiling milk. Stir constantly while pouring the egg mixture in. Egg proteins and starch can clump or scramble if they meet hot liquid unevenly, leaving a lumpy custard instead of a smooth one.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, milk, egg, corn):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, 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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