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Dessert

Marshmallow Pudding

A gelatin-based pudding mixed with sugar, egg whites, pink coloring, and flavoring, served chilled and sprinkled with coconut.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Marshmallow Pudding

Why it works: Gelatin and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,778 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Marshmallow Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Dissolve the gelatin in warm water.

  2. When cool, add sugar, egg whites, pink coloring, and flavoring.

Whip and serve

  1. Whip the mixture for 15 minutes.

  2. Serve in a glass dish and sprinkle with coconut.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Gelatin + sugartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Gelatin + coconuttop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together64 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-pinene (pine, resin).

  3. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + coconuttop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,742 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  5. Gelatin + eggtop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Gelatin
Provides the structure that lets the pudding set and hold its shape.
Egg whites
Whipping traps air in the mixture, giving the pudding its light, fluffy texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps keep the whipped foam stable.

The step that matters

Let the gelatin cool before adding the egg whites. Gelatin that is still hot can deflate the whipped foam and weaken the airy texture. Letting it cool first keeps the egg whites able to hold air while the mixture is whipped.

Swap the coconut

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits about as well
  4. Coconutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against gelatin, sugar, egg. 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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