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Dessert

Almond Pudding, Boiled

A steamed pudding made from sweet and bitter almonds, milk, sugar, nutmeg, flour, bread crumbs, eggs, and egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,115 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Almond Pudding, Boiled

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Blanch and pound the sweet and bitter almonds with a little water.

  2. In a bowl, combine the almond mixture with milk, sugar, nutmeg, flour, bread crumbs, and beaten eggs. Mix until smooth, then fold in the whisked egg whites.

Steam and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a well-buttered mold.

  2. Steam gently until the pudding is set.

  3. Let it stand for a few minutes before turning out.

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. Almond + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,115 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Almond + flourtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  5. Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Sweet almonds
Provide the main almond flavour and a rich, creamy body to the pudding.
Eggs
Set the pudding into a firm, sliceable structure as they cook.
Egg whites
Whisked to a froth, they add lightness and airy texture.
Milk
Supplies moisture and softness, giving the custard-like base its texture.
Flour
Thickens the mixture and helps hold the pudding together.

The step that matters

Fold in the egg whites gently. Whisked egg whites trap air that gives the pudding its lift; stirring them vigorously knocks out air and leaves a denser result.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (almond, milk, sugar, flour, bread, egg, butter):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Capersfits less well
  4. Turmericfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against almond, milk, sugar, flour, bread, egg, butter. 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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