Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Orange Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the oranges
Peel the oranges, remove all tough skin, cut them into pieces the size of a nutmeg, and discard the tough center.
Place the orange pieces in a pudding dish, squeeze the lemon juice over them, add ½ cup of sugar, stir, and let stand.
Make the custard
Beat the egg yolks, stir in 2 teaspoons of milk, and mix with the corn starch and the same amount of milk.
Heat the remaining milk in a saucepan until boiling, then add the egg mixture and cook for 5 minutes.
Add the salt and remaining sugar, remove from heat, and spoon the mixture over the oranges in the dish.
Top and brown
Beat the egg whites until stiff, add 1 tablespoon of sugar, spread over the pudding, and brown delicately in the oven.
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.
-
Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,634 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
-
Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
-
Orange + corntop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together586 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Lemon + corntop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,927 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Egg yolks thicken the custard and egg whites form a light, stiff topping.
- Corn starch
- Starch thickens the milk mixture so the custard sets smooth rather than runny.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard, adding moisture and body.
- Oranges
- Provide the main fruit flavor and juice that soaks into the pudding.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the oranges, custard and meringue topping.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness of the oranges and sugar.
The step that matters
Cooking the egg and starch mixture in the boiling milk. Eggs can scramble if heated too quickly or for too long, while the corn starch needs to reach a boil to thicken fully. Adding the mixture to hot milk and cooking it steadily gives a smooth custard instead of a curdled one.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, milk, corn, sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Orangethe original
- Figfits about as well
- Coconutfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, milk, corn, sugar, 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.
More orange pudding recipes
You might also like
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Lemon Cake228 recipes
Lemon Ice147 recipes
Orange Cream Rice Pudding121 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.