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Dessert

Lemon Pudding, Baked

A baked lemon pudding made with milk, butter, sugar, eggs, sponge cakes, and lemon rind, finished with a meringue topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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, Baked

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the custard base

  1. Combine the milk, butter, sugar, and grated lemon rind in a saucepan.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil and let infuse for 15 minutes.

  3. Pour the mixture over the well-beaten egg yolks while stirring.

  4. Add the crumbled sponge cakes and lemon juice, mixing well.

Bake and finish

  1. Pour the mixture into a pie dish lined with pastry.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 30 to 35 minutes, or until set.

  3. Cover with stiffly whisked egg whites and sprinkle with castor sugar.

  4. Return to the oven until the meringue hardens and lightly browns.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Egg yolks thicken the custard and egg whites form the meringue topping that sets and browns.
Sponge cakes
Crumbled sponge soaks up the custard, giving the pudding a soft, tender body.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, rounded mouthfeel to the custard.
Castor sugar
Sweetens the custard and helps the meringue become glossy and brown.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that sets with the eggs into a creamy custard.
Lemons
Lemon rind and juice supply the bright, acidic flavour that defines the pudding.

The step that matters

Pouring the infused milk over the egg yolks while stirring. If hot liquid hits the yolks in one spot, they can scramble. Pouring slowly while stirring tempers the eggs so the custard thickens evenly and stays smooth.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits about as well
  3. Coconutfits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, 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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