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Dessert

Almond Pudding

A custard-like pudding made with bread crumbs, cream, almond paste, eggs, sugar, butter, and brandy, baked in puff pastry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and orange are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,125 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Almond Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the custard base

  1. Pour boiling cream over bread crumbs and let cool.

  2. Gradually mix in the almond paste with orange-flower water or spring water.

  3. Stir in the beaten egg yolks, egg whites, sugar, and clarified butter.

  4. Transfer the mixture to a clean saucepan and stir continuously over low heat until thick, but do not let it boil.

Finish and bake

  1. Once cool, add brandy or noéau.

  2. Pour the pudding into a dish lined with puff pastry and bake for 30 minutes at 350°F (175°C).

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Almond + orangetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,125 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Yolks and whites thicken the custard and set it firm when baked.
Sweet almonds
Provide the main body of flavour and a rich, smooth paste that thickens the pudding.
Bread crumbs
Soak up the hot cream to add body and a soft, tender crumb.
Cream
Adds richness and moisture, giving the pudding a smooth, tender texture.
Clarified butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth mouthfeel.
Sugar
Sweetens the pudding and helps it brown lightly at the surface.

The step that matters

Heating the custard over low heat. Egg yolks thicken by gentle heat and can curdle or scramble if they boil, so the mixture must be stirred constantly and kept below boiling until thick.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, cream, almond, egg, sugar, butter, brandy):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Apricotfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, cream, almond, egg, sugar, butter, brandy. 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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