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 ↓
Orange Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the oranges
Peel and slice the oranges, placing them in the bottom of a pudding dish.
Make the custard
Boil the milk, then stir in the corn‑starch mixed with a little cold milk.
Beat the egg yolks with the sugar, then add to the milk mixture and boil for 1 minute.
Pour the mixture over the oranges.
Top and brown
Make a meringue by beating the egg whites until stiff, then gradually add the powdered sugar.
Spread the meringue over the pudding and brown in the oven.
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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Orange + corntop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together586 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Orange + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,696 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and milk 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
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard and add richness and a smooth texture.
- Corn-starch
- Thickens the milk mixture so the custard sets into a soft, sliceable layer.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a meringue that forms a light, airy topping.
- Milk
- Forms the body of the custard, carrying the starch and yolks.
- Oranges
- Provide the bright citrus flavour and fruit base under the custard.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the meringue and helps it hold a smooth, stable structure.
The step that matters
Boil the custard after adding the yolks. Egg yolks must be heated enough to thicken the custard, but overheating can curdle them. Boiling for the stated time sets the starch and yolks together, giving a smooth, thick layer.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, milk, corn, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, corn, egg. 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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