Why it works: Orange and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,437 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Custard Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
In a bowl, gradually mix the milk with the flour, egg yolks, orange-flower water, and cinnamon.
Butter a basin that will hold the mixture, then pour the batter in.
Tie a floured cloth over the basin.
Cook and serve
Place the basin in boiling water and turn it occasionally for a few minutes.
Boil for about 30 minutes.
Serve with currant jelly and sweet sauce.
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.
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Orange + cinnamontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,437 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the eggs and flour set into a custard.
- Flour
- Thickens the batter so the pudding holds its shape when cooked.
- Egg yolks
- Set during gentle cooking to give the pudding a firm, creamy texture.
- Orange-flower water
- Adds a floral aroma to the custard.
The step that matters
Keeping the water boiling around the basin. Steaming the pudding in boiling water provides steady, even heat. If the water stops boiling, the custard cooks unevenly and may turn out dense or watery in places.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, flour, egg, orange, cinnamon, butter, sauce):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Lemonfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, flour, egg, orange, cinnamon, butter, sauce. 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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