Why it works: Orange and lime match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 937 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Orange Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the filling
Grate the yellow rind of the orange and lime, and squeeze the juice into a bowl, removing all seeds.
Cream the butter and sugar together.
Beat the eggs until light, then gradually stir them into the butter and sugar mixture.
Add the liquor and rose-water gradually.
Add the orange and lime juice and mix well.
Make the pastry
Prepare a sheet of puff pastry using the flour and ¼ pound of butter.
Lay it in a buttered pie dish.
Trim and notch the edges of the pastry.
Bake and serve
Pour the mixture into the pastry.
Bake for about 30 minutes in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).
Grate loaf sugar over the pudding before serving.
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.
-
Orange + limetop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together937 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Wine + brandytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,427 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
-
Orange + rosetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together876 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Butter + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
-
Orange + winetop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,046 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Beaten eggs add structure and richness, helping the filling set as it bakes.
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar, butter adds richness and a tender texture to the filling.
- Flour
- Forms the puff pastry that holds the filling in the pie dish.
- Powdered white sugar
- Creamed with butter, sugar sweetens the filling and helps give it a light texture.
- Orange
- Its juice and rind add acidity and bright citrus aroma to the filling.
The step that matters
Beat the eggs until light, then add them gradually to the butter and sugar. Adding eggs slowly to the creamed butter and sugar keeps the mixture emulsified. Adding them all at once can curdle it, which affects the smoothness and set of the baked pudding.
Swap the lime
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (orange, sugar, butter, egg, wine, brandy, rose):
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonfits better
- Figfits better
- Limethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against orange, sugar, butter, egg, wine, brandy, rose. 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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