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 ↓
Charlotte Russe Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Heat the milk in a saucepan until it is near boiling.
Stir in the egg yolks and corn starch, and let it thicken slightly.
Sweeten and flavor the mixture to taste.
Assemble and bake
Layer the sponge cake slices in a pudding dish and pour the custard over them.
Bake until set.
Top and brown
Beat the egg whites until stiff, then gradually add the sugar.
Spread the icing over the pudding and brown slightly under the broiler.
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).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 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).
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Corn + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,168 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar 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
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard that sets the dish.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard and give it a rich texture as they set.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the custard so it holds its body when cooled.
- Sponge cake slices
- Form the base layer that soaks up the custard as it bakes.
- Egg whites
- Whipped with sugar to make a stiff, airy topping that browns.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and stabilizes the whipped egg whites.
The step that matters
Thickening the custard. Egg yolks and corn starch thicken as they heat, but overheating can curdle the yolks and leave the custard grainy. Heat gently and stir while it thickens slightly.
“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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