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Dessert

Napoleon Pudding

A layered dessert made with pie crust, preserves, almonds, lemon peel, custard, and meringue.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,655 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Napoleon 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.

Prepare

  1. Line a deep pie plate with the pie crust.

  2. Spread a thick layer of preserves over the crust.

  3. Sprinkle with chopped almonds and candied lemon peel.

Make the custard

  1. Beat the egg yolks and egg whites separately.

  2. Add sugar and melted butter to the beaten eggs and mix thoroughly.

  3. Pour the egg mixture over the preserves.

Bake and top

  1. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).

  2. Make a meringue by beating the egg whites and adding sugar.

  3. Spread the meringue over the pudding.

  4. Brown the meringue delicately.

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 + lemontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

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

  3. Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Egg yolks and whites set the custard and give the pudding its structure as it bakes.
Preserves
Provide sweetness and fruity flavour, forming the layer beneath the custard.
Melted butter
Adds richness and fat, giving the custard a tender, smooth texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and meringue, and helps the meringue hold and brown.
Pie crust
Forms the base that holds the layers while the pudding bakes.

The step that matters

Brown the meringue delicately. Meringue browns quickly because its sugar caramelises at high heat, so it can scorch before the custard below is fully set. Watch it closely and remove it once golden.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

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