Skip to main content
Dessert

Montrose Pudding

A chilled cream pudding with a sherbet filling and a brandy‑sherry sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Vanilla and raspberry work together. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 950 recipes. Both carry ethyl benzoate, which smells fruity, sweet. The science ↓

Montrose Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard base

  1. Heat 1 pint of cream in a double boiler until hot.

  2. Add 6 egg yolks and 1 cup of sugar.

  3. Cook until thickened.

  4. Remove from heat.

  5. Stir in vanilla.

  6. Let cool.

  7. Fold in 1 pint of whipped cream.

Line the mold and fill

  1. When partially frozen, line a mold.

  2. Fill the center with sherbet.

Make the sherry sauce

  1. Dissolve 1 tablespoon of gelatin in a little hot water.

  2. Combine 3 egg yolks, ½ cup powdered sugar, and 1 pint of cream in a saucepan.

  3. Boil until syrupy.

  4. Add the dissolved gelatin.

  5. Remove from heat.

  6. Let cool.

  7. Stir in vanilla, brandy, and sherry.

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. Vanilla + raspberrytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together950 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl benzoate (fruity, sweet).

  2. Brandy + sherrytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,209 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Cream + gelatintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,628 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Sugar + gelatintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Vanilla + sherrytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together506 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

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 as they cook and add richness and a smooth texture.
Cream
Provides fat and moisture, giving the dessert a rich, smooth body.
Gelatin
Sets the mixture so it holds its shape when chilled or frozen.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps stabilise the custard during cooking.

The step that matters

Cook the custard until thickened. Egg yolks thicken as their proteins set with gentle heat. Overheating can curdle them, so cook slowly over a double boiler and stop once the custard coats a spoon.

Swap the raspberry

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, egg, sugar, vanilla, gelatin, brandy, sherry):

  1. Strawberryfits about as well
  2. Apricotfits about as well
  3. Figfits about as well
  4. Raspberrythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, egg, sugar, vanilla, gelatin, brandy, sherry. 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.

You might also like

Raspberry JamRaspberry Jam150 recipesVanilla Ice CreamVanilla Ice Cream108 recipesRaspberry CreamRaspberry Cream82 recipesBrandy PeachesBrandy Peaches68 recipes