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, removing all the tough white skin.
Cut the oranges into pieces the size of a nutmeg.
Discard the tough center of the orange pieces.
Place the orange pieces in a pudding dish.
Squeeze the lemon juice over the orange pieces.
Add ½ cup of sugar to the orange pieces.
Stir the mixture and let it stand.
Make the custard
Beat the egg yolks.
Stir in 2 teaspoons of milk to the egg yolks.
Mix the egg yolks with the corn-starch.
Add the same amount of milk (2 teaspoons) to the mixture.
Heat the remaining milk in a saucepan until boiling.
Add the egg and corn-starch mixture to the boiling milk.
Cook for 5 minutes.
Add the salt to the mixture.
Add the remaining sugar to the mixture.
Remove from heat.
Spoon the mixture over the oranges in the dish.
Top and bake
Beat the egg whites until stiff.
Add 1 tablespoon of sugar to the egg whites.
Spread the icing on top of the pudding.
Brown the icing 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.
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Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,634 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Orange + corntop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together586 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Lemon + corntop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,927 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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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
- Yolks thicken the custard and whites form the light topping.
- Corn-starch
- Thickens the milk mixture into a smooth, sliceable custard.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard and sets when heated.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the oranges and custard and helps stiffen the egg whites.
- Oranges
- Provide the main flavour and fruit base of the pudding.
The step that matters
Cook the egg and corn-starch mixture in the boiling milk. Starch needs to reach a boil to thicken fully, while eggs can scramble if added too hot or cooked too fast. Adding the egg mixture gradually and stirring keeps the custard smooth.
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.
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