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Dessert

Orleans Pudding

A gelatinous custard pudding with currants, raisins, candied peel, and crumbled biscuits, set in a mold and garnished.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Currant and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,057 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Orleans Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the gelatine and custard

  1. Soak the gelatine in cold water for 30 minutes.

  2. Whisk the egg yolks and gradually add hot milk or cream and powdered sugar.

  3. Heat the custard in a saucepan over low heat, stirring until it thickens.

  4. Add the soaked gelatine and stir until dissolved.

Prepare the fruit

  1. Simmer currants, raisins, and candied peel in brandy for 20 minutes.

Assemble and set

  1. Oil a round mold and add a thin layer of cream at the bottom.

  2. Sprinkle some fruit on the cream and let it set.

  3. Add a layer of crumbled Naples Biscuits and crushed ratafias, repeating until the mold is full.

  4. Place the pudding in a cool place or ice until set.

Serve

  1. Turn it out onto a dish and garnish with dried cherries and candied peel.

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. Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Raisin + biscuittop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Currant + raisintop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,180 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).

  4. Raisin + brandytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 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

Gelatine
Sets the custard so the layers hold their shape when turned out.
Egg yolks
Thicken the custard and add richness through their proteins and fat.
Hot milk or cream
Forms the smooth custard base and adds richness and moisture.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the custard and adds body to the base.
Naples biscuits
Provide crumbly, absorbent layers that soak up flavour and add texture.
Currants and raisins
Add chewy sweetness and fruit flavour, softened by simmering in brandy.

The step that matters

Stirring the custard over low heat until it thickens. Egg yolks scramble if the custard gets too hot, leaving lumps and a grainy texture. Gentle, constant stirring over low heat thickens it smoothly.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, milk, sugar, raisin, brandy, biscuit):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Apricotfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, sugar, raisin, brandy, biscuit. 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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