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Dessert

Orange Pudding

A custard-like dessert made with oranges, milk, sugar, eggs, and cornstarch, topped with beaten egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Orange and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,696 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Orange Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the oranges

  1. Pare and slice the oranges, then pour the sugar over them.

Make the custard

  1. In a saucepan, heat the milk until it boils.

  2. Add the beaten egg yolks and cornstarch to the boiling milk, stirring well.

  3. Pour the mixture over the sliced oranges and let it cool.

Top and serve

  1. Beat the egg whites until stiff, then add a little sugar.

  2. Sprinkle the beaten egg whites over the pudding and brown it.

  3. Serve cold.

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. Orange + milktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,696 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  2. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,212 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 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

Oranges
Provide the main fruit flavour and a fresh, slightly acidic taste.
Milk
Forms the creamy base of the pudding.
Egg yolks
Thicken the milk mixture and add richness to the custard.
Cornstarch
Thickens the milk mixture so it sets as it cools.
Egg whites
Whipped to form a light topping that browns in the oven.

The step that matters

Adding the egg yolks and cornstarch to boiling milk. Stir the yolks and cornstarch in well so they blend evenly. Stirring keeps the egg from scrambling and the cornstarch from forming lumps, giving a smooth thickened custard.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, milk, egg):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Raisinfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, 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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