Why it works: Lemon and wine are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,157 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Pudding Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Beat the eggs with the sugar, lemon juice, and grated lemon rind.
Heat the mixture in a saucepan until it begins to boil.
Remove from heat and stir in the wine.
Serve immediately.
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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Lemon + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,157 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + lemontop 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).
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Sugar + winetop 31% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together9,581 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar and lemon 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
- Eggs
- Eggs thicken the sauce as they heat, giving it a smooth, custard-like body.
- Sugar
- Sugar sweetens the sauce and balances the sharpness of the lemon.
- Lemon juice and rind
- Lemon adds acidity and bright aroma that cut through the richness of the eggs.
- Wine
- Wine adds liquid and a fruity flavor to the sauce once it is off the heat.
The step that matters
Heat the mixture until it begins to boil. Egg proteins set as they heat, which thickens the sauce. Overheating can scramble the eggs into curds, so watch closely and remove from heat promptly.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, wine):
- Vanillafits about as well
- Lemonthe original
- Applefits about as well
- Figfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, wine. 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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