Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Lemon 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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a dish that holds 2 pints, combine the marmalade, grated biscuits or crumbled stale bread, and butter.
Add the beaten eggs and milk, then mix well.
Fold in the lemon chips.
Bake
Bake until set and golden.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Biscuit + lemontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together697 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
-
Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
-
Biscuit + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,009 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Set the custard as they heat, giving the pudding its firm, sliceable structure.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard and keeps the pudding moist.
- Biscuits or stale bread
- Absorbs the liquid and gives the pudding a soft, cake-like body.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a tender texture to the pudding.
- Marmalade
- Adds sweetness and a bright, bitter citrus note.
The step that matters
Baking until just set. As the egg-and-milk mixture heats, the proteins in the eggs set and form the custard. Overbaking pushes them too far, leaving the pudding curdled, watery and rubbery.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (biscuit, butter, egg, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against biscuit, butter, egg, milk. 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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