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Dessert

Farina Pudding

A milk and farina pudding baked with eggs, butter, sugar, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Farina 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 custard

  1. In a pot, heat 1 pint of milk with the butter until it boils.

  2. Gradually add the farina, stirring constantly until it thickens and does not stick to the pan.

  3. Remove from heat and let it cool.

  4. Once cool, mix in the beaten egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla until smooth.

  5. Stir in 1 pint of cold milk and beat well.

Bake

  1. Fold in the beaten egg whites until combined.

  2. Pour into a baking dish and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 45 minutes.

Serve

  1. Serve warm, with cream and sugar if desired.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Butter + vanillatop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Farina
Thickens the milk as its starch swells with heat, giving the pudding its body.
Eggs
Enrich the custard and set during baking, giving the pudding structure and a tender texture.
Milk
Provides the liquid base, adding moisture and creaminess to the pudding.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smoother, softer mouthfeel.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps keep the pudding tender.
Vanilla
Adds aroma that rounds out the flavor of the custard.

The step that matters

Adding the farina. Starch granules can clump and scorch if dumped in at once or left unstirred. Adding it gradually while stirring constantly keeps it dispersed and lets it thicken evenly as the starch swells and gelatinizes.

“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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