Why it works: Milk and peach work together. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 781 recipes. Both carry phellandrene, which smells minty. The science ↓
Delmonico 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 custard
Beat the egg yolks in a bowl until light.
Add the sugar and beat until very light.
Mix the cornstarch with a little cold milk.
Combine the cornstarch mixture with the egg mixture.
Stir the mixture into 1 quart of milk just before it boils.
Add a little salt to the milk mixture.
Stir until the mixture thickens well.
Pour the thickened custard into a dish.
Top and bake
Place the dish in the oven at 350°F (175°C) until it can bear icing.
Top the custard with a layer of canned peaches or other fruit.
Mix the fruit syrup with the custard if desired.
Beat the egg whites with 2 tablespoons of sugar until stiff.
Spread the stiff egg whites over the pudding.
Return the pudding to the oven until the meringue is lightly browned.
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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Milk + peachtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together781 recipes
Shared aroma: phellandrene (minty).
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Sugar + peachtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,308 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard and enrich its flavor and color.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the milk mixture into a smooth custard as it heats.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard that thickens when heated.
- Egg whites
- Whip into a stiff meringue that browns on top of the pudding.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and helps stabilize the whipped egg whites.
The step that matters
Stirring the custard as it thickens. Cornstarch swells and thickens when heated, but if the mixture is not stirred near boiling, it can scorch on the bottom or form lumps. Stirring keeps heat even so the custard sets smooth.
Swap the peach
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Raisinfits about as well
- Peachthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, 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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