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Dessert

Delmonico Pudding

A custard-like pudding made with milk, eggs, cornstarch, and sugar, baked until light brown and topped with a sweet meringue.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Delmonico Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Beat the egg whites separately.

  3. Beat the egg yolks separately.

  4. Add the sugar to the yolks and mix well.

  5. Mix the cornstarch with a little cold milk.

Make the custard

  1. Boil the remaining milk.

  2. Add the egg mixture and cornstarch.

  3. Let it boil for 3 minutes.

  4. Pour the mixture into a well-buttered dish.

Bake and top

  1. Bake until light brown.

  2. Beat the egg whites to a stiff froth.

  3. Add 2 tablespoons of sugar to the meringue.

  4. Spread the meringue over the pudding.

  5. Return to the oven to brown the top.

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 + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  2. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

  3. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

Milk and sugar 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

Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard and provides moisture for a soft set.
Cornstarch
Thickens the milk as it boils, giving the custard body.
Eggs
Egg yolks enrich and set the custard, while whites whip into the meringue topping.
White sugar
Sweetens the custard and meringue, and helps the whites hold a stiff foam.

The step that matters

Boil the custard for 3 minutes. Cornstarch only thickens fully once it reaches a boil and the starch granules swell. Boiling long enough ensures the custard thickens properly, while the egg yolks must be well mixed in first to avoid lumps.

“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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