Why it works: Milk and corn are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,955 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓
Orange Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the oranges
Peel and slice the oranges thinly, removing the seeds.
Sprinkle the sugar over the orange slices.
Make the custard
In a pot of boiling water, heat the milk until it is boiling hot.
In a bowl, beat the egg yolks and mix in the corn starch with a little cold milk.
Stir the egg mixture into the boiling milk until thickened, then pour over the oranges.
Top and bake
Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks, adding the sugar, and spread over the pudding.
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for a few minutes to harden the frosting.
Serve
Serve cold or hot (better cold).
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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Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
-
Orange + corntop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together586 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Orange + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,696 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
-
Milk + eggtop 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).
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
- Sweet oranges
- Provide the main fruit flavour and juicy layer under the custard.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the milk into a smooth custard and add richness.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the milk mixture so it sets into a stable custard.
- Egg whites
- Whip into stiff peaks to form a light topping that browns and firms in the oven.
- Milk
- Forms the base of the custard and gives it body and softness.
- White sugar
- Sweetens the oranges and helps draw out their juice.
The step that matters
Stirring the egg mixture into the boiling milk. Egg yolks can scramble if they meet very hot milk too quickly. Stirring constantly while adding the mixture, and cooking until it thickens, keeps the custard smooth as the starch and egg proteins set.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, milk, egg, corn):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, egg, corn. 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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