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 ↓
Gelatine Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Make a boiled custard by whisking the egg yolks with milk and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat until thickened.
Soak the gelatine in cold water for a few minutes, then dissolve it in the boiling water.
Once the custard has cooled, add the dissolved gelatine and stir well.
Assemble and set
Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form and fold them into the mixture.
Flavor with vanilla extract and pour into a mold.
Refrigerate until set, allowing it to form three layers.
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 + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 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
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the milk into a rich custard base as they cook.
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid custard into a firm, sliceable pudding when chilled.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they lighten the pudding with air bubbles.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the eggs thicken into custard.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard base.
The step that matters
Add the dissolved gelatine after the custard has cooled. Gelatine begins to set as it cools, so adding it to a hot custard or letting it set before mixing causes lumps or uneven texture. Cooling the custard first lets the gelatine blend in smoothly before the mixture chills.
“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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