Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Corn Starch Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks.
Dissolve the corn starch in a little milk.
Make the pudding
Stir the sugar into the remaining milk and heat on the stove.
When it boils, add the corn starch and stir constantly until it becomes a smooth paste.
Gently fold in the beaten egg whites and cook a little longer to ensure the eggs are cooked.
Flavor with vanilla and pour into a mold.
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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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Corn + vanillatop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,943 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,301 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
- Rich cream
- Provides fat and richness, giving the pudding a smooth, creamy mouthfeel.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the hot liquid into a smooth paste as its starch granules swell and gelatinize.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps soften the pudding's texture.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they add lightness and airy structure to the pudding.
The step that matters
Adding the corn starch to the boiling liquid. Corn starch must be stirred constantly as it goes into boiling liquid, or it clumps and forms lumps instead of a smooth paste. Starch needs to reach a boil to fully thicken.
“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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