Why it works: Egg and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Pudding Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Beat the yolks of two eggs and the white of one egg with the sugar.
Flavor the mixture as desired.
Gradually pour the boiling milk over the egg mixture while stirring continuously.
Finish and serve
Beat the remaining egg white until stiff and gently fold it into the mixture.
Serve as a delicate 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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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Eggs
- Yolks thicken the hot milk as they gently cook, giving the sauce body and richness.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the beaten yolks become smooth and pale.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base and warms the egg mixture into a pourable sauce.
The step that matters
Pouring in the boiling milk. Adding the hot milk slowly while stirring warms the yolks gradually so they thicken smoothly instead of scrambling into lumps.
“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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