Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Vermicelli 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.
Cook the vermicelli
Heat the milk in a saucepan until scalding, then add a pinch of salt.
Cook the vermicelli in the milk for about 10 minutes until tender.
Stir in the sugar and butter while the mixture is warm, then let it cool.
Make the batter
Once cooled, add the beaten egg yolks and chopped almonds, mixing well.
Gently fold in the whipped egg whites until combined.
Bake and serve
Pour the mixture into a baking dish, cover, and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 45 minutes.
Remove the cover and bake for an additional 15 minutes until browned.
Serve warm with a liquid sauce.
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.
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Milk + almondtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,800 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Vermicelli
- Cooked in milk until tender, it forms the starchy body of the pudding.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the custard and add richness and set to the pudding.
- Egg whites
- Whipped and folded in, they add lift and a light, airy texture.
- Milk
- Cooks the vermicelli and provides the liquid that sets into a custard.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smoother mouthfeel.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and aids browning on the surface.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Whipped egg whites trap air, which gives lift. Folding gently keeps that air in; stirring vigorously deflates the foam and leaves a dense pudding.
Swap the almond
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, butter, egg):
- Pecansfits about as well
- Almondthe original
- Cocoafits less well
- Walnutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, butter, 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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