Why it works: Lemon and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. 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.
Make the pudding
Dissolve the cornstarch in a little cold water.
Add the dissolved cornstarch to the boiling water along with the grated rind of the lemon.
Beat the egg yolk.
Mix in the sugar and lemon juice.
Stir the mixture into the boiling mixture.
Once thickened, pour the mixture into a pudding dish.
Top and brown
Beat the egg white with 2 tablespoons of sugar until stiff peaks form.
Spread the meringue over the pudding.
Brown the pudding in a 350°F (175°C) oven.
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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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the liquid as its starch swells and sets when heated in the boiling water.
- Eggs
- The yolk adds richness and helps thicken the custard, while the white whips into a stable meringue topping.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the lemon and helps stabilise the whipped egg white.
- Lemon
- Rind gives aroma and juice adds acidity, giving the pudding its bright flavour.
The step that matters
Dissolve the cornstarch fully in cold water before adding it to the boiling water. Cornstarch clumps if it meets hot liquid undissolved, and lumps do not thicken evenly. Starting it in cold water keeps the granules separated so the mixture thickens smoothly once it boils.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
- Datesfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar. 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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