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Nesselrode Pudding

A chilled pudding made with milk, eggs, sugar, coffee, cream, figs, and burnt sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and fig are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,026 recipes. Both carry methyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Nesselrode Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Beat the eggs until very light.

  2. Combine all ingredients and boil until it thickens to a cream-like consistency.

  3. Let the mixture cool.

Finish and freeze

  1. Add the strong coffee, cream, chopped figs, and burnt sugar.

  2. Freeze the mixture until solid.

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. Milk + figtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,026 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Milk + coffeetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,202 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  4. Coffee + figtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together97 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + figtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,241 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Thicken the custard base as their proteins set with gentle heat.
Granulated sugar
Adds sweetness and keeps the frozen texture softer by lowering the freezing point.
Cream
Adds fat for a rich, smooth texture that resists iciness.
Strong coffee
Provides the main flavor of the pudding.
Figs
Add chewy texture and fruity sweetness throughout the frozen mixture.

The step that matters

Boil until it thickens. Eggs thicken as their proteins set, but if the mixture gets too hot or boils too hard, the eggs can scramble and turn grainy. Watch closely and stop heating once it coats a spoon.

Swap the fig

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Strawberryfits about as well
  3. Figthe original
  4. Raisinfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, sugar, coffee, cream. 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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