Why it works: Milk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Delmonico Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Combine scalded milk, beaten egg yolks, sugar, and dissolved cornstarch in a pot.
Stir the mixture into the boiling milk.
Pour the mixture into a pudding dish.
Top and serve
Beat egg whites to a stiff froth and add powdered sugar.
Spread the egg white mixture on top of the pudding and brown slightly.
Flavor both the custard and frosting as desired.
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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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar 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
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the custard sets from.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken and enrich the custard as they set with heat.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the milk mixture into a smooth, sliceable custard.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a stiff foam that forms the light topping and browns lightly.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and balances the richness of the yolks.
The step that matters
Stir the mixture into the boiling milk. Cornstarch only thickens fully once it reaches a boil, and constant stirring keeps it smooth. Adding the yolk mixture to hot milk while stirring helps prevent lumps and keeps the eggs from scrambling.
“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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