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Dessert

Vermicelli Pudding, Rich

A sweet pudding made from milk, vermicelli, lemon rind, cinnamon, butter, cream, eggs, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,950 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Vermicelli Pudding, Rich

Oven, in the book's wordsA gentle oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a gentle oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Flavor the milk

  1. Simmer the lemon rind and cinnamon in the milk until flavored.

  2. Strain the milk, bring it to a boil, and gradually add the vermicelli while stirring constantly.

  3. Boil gently for 20 minutes.

Make the pudding

  1. Remove from heat and stir in the butter, cream, and sugar.

  2. Beat the egg yolks and whites separately, then combine and stir into the pudding.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a well-buttered pie dish and bake at 300°F (150°C) for about 1 hour.

  2. Serve with powdered sugar on top and wine sauce, jam, or fresh stewed fruit.

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. Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

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

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  4. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Yolks and whites set the custard and give the pudding its rich, tender structure as they bake.
Vermicelli
Starch from the pasta thickens the milk and gives the pudding its body.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the pasta cooks in and the custard sets from.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smoother, more tender crumb.
Cream
Adds fat and richness, softening the texture of the pudding.

The step that matters

Stirring the eggs into the pudding. Egg proteins set with heat, so the pudding must be cool enough when the beaten eggs go in to avoid scrambling them, and the mixture should be well combined before baking so it sets evenly.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, cinnamon, butter, cream, sugar, egg):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Raisinfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, cinnamon, butter, cream, sugar, egg. 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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