Why it works: Lemon and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,227 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Lemon Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the filling
Beat the eggs very well.
Add the sugar and lemon rind, mixing until smooth.
Peel and mash the lemons, then add the juice to the mixture.
Melt the butter and mix it in.
Assemble and bake
Line a baking dish with the pastry crust.
Pour the pudding mixture into the crust.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 1 hour.
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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Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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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).
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 set as they heat, giving the filling its structure.
- Sugar
- Sugar sweetens the filling and softens its texture.
- Lemon juice
- Lemon juice adds acidity and bright citrus flavor.
- Butter
- Melted butter adds richness and a smooth, tender texture.
- Pastry crust
- The pastry crust holds the liquid filling while it bakes.
The step that matters
Baking the filling. The eggs coagulate as they heat, which firms the filling into a sliceable pudding. Too much heat or time can make the eggs curdle or weep liquid, so the pudding can turn grainy or watery.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonthe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Figfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against 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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