Why it works: Lemon and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Cold 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 lemon custard
Combine lemon juice, lemon rind, egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch, and cold water in a saucepan.
Boil the mixture until thick, stirring well.
Assemble and bake
Pour the hot mixture into a pudding dish lined with thin stale cake.
Whisk the egg whites until stiff and spread over the top of the pudding.
Brown the pudding in a 350°F (175°C) oven.
Serve
Serve cold.
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 + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon and sugar 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
- Egg yolks
- Enriches the custard and helps it set as it thickens with heat.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the lemon mixture into a smooth, sliceable custard when boiled.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and balances the sharpness of the lemon.
- Lemons
- Supply the sour flavour and aroma that define the pudding.
The step that matters
Boil the mixture until thick, stirring well.. Cornstarch only thickens fully once it reaches a boil, but egg yolks can scramble if overheated. Stirring constantly prevents lumps and scorching, and the mixture should come off the heat as soon as it thickens.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
- Datesfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar. 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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