Why it works: Sugar and gelatin 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 ↓
Lemon Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the pudding
Beat the yolks of 6 eggs until smooth.
Add 2 oz corn starch, the juice and grated rind of 2 lemons, and a little water to thin it.
In a double boiler, combine 1 qt water, ¾ lb sugar, and 1 oz gelatin.
Heat until boiling, then stir in the corn starch mixture.
Cook thoroughly, then let cool.
Finish and chill
Fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites.
Refrigerate for 3 to 4 hours before serving.
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 + gelatintop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,778 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Corn + lemontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,927 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon and sugar 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
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard and add richness as they cook with the starch.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the lemon liquid into a smooth, sliceable pudding when heated.
- Gelatin
- Sets the pudding so it holds its shape when chilled.
- Egg whites
- Folded in whipped to lighten the texture and add airy body.
- Lemons
- Provide the acidity and bright lemon aroma that define the flavour.
The step that matters
Cook thoroughly, then let cool. Egg yolks and cornstarch must be heated fully to thicken and cook out the raw starch taste; undercooking leaves the pudding thin and floury. Cooling before folding in the whites keeps the whipped foam from collapsing.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, corn, sugar, gelatin):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Raisinfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, corn, sugar, gelatin. 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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