Why it works: Milk and corn are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,955 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓
Sponge-cake 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.
Prepare the layers
Slice the sponge cake and layer some in the bottom of a buttered pudding dish.
Scald the milk in a saucepan, then stir in the corn starch mixture.
Gradually pour the hot milk mixture into the beaten eggs and sugar, stirring constantly.
Add the lemon juice and grated peel to the custard mixture.
Pour the custard over the cake slices, then add another layer of cake and more custard, repeating until the dish is full.
Place a small, heavy plate on top and let it sit until the custard is absorbed.
Bake and serve
Cover and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes or until set.
Turn out onto a flat dish, sprinkle with sugar, and serve warm or cold.
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 + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Corn + lemontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,927 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and lemon 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
- Stale sponge cake
- Forms the absorbent base and body of the pudding, soaking up the custard.
- Eggs
- Set the custard as they cook, giving the pudding its firm, sliceable structure.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard, providing moisture and softness.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the milk so the custard holds together rather than running thin.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the sweet custard and balances its richness.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and adds a sweet finish when sprinkled on top.
The step that matters
Adding the hot milk to the eggs. Pouring hot milk into eggs too fast can scramble them. Adding it gradually while stirring constantly tempers the eggs so the custard sets smooth.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, milk, corn):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, milk, corn. 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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