Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Macaroon Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the base
Roll half of the macaroons with a rolling pin.
Place the other half in a serving dish and pour the sherry over them.
Let the macaroons stand.
Make the custard
In a double boiler, heat the milk.
Separate the eggs, placing the yolks in a bowl.
Beat the yolks slightly, then add the sugar and beat until light.
Stir the egg mixture into the scalded milk and stir for about a minute.
Remove from heat.
Add the vanilla extract and pour the custard over the macaroons.
Top, bake and serve
Make a meringue by beating the egg whites and powdered sugar until stiff.
Flavor the meringue with a few drops of vanilla.
Heap the meringue on top of the custard.
Bake in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C) until golden brown.
Remove from the oven and place a preserved strawberry in each depression of the meringue.
Serve very 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 + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Sherry + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together506 recipes
Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sherry + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,479 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
- Macaroons
- Soak up the sherry and form the soft base under the custard.
- Eggs
- Yolks thicken the custard and whites whip into the meringue for structure.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard that sets when gently heated with egg.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and helps the yolks beat to a light texture.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the meringue and helps the whites stiffen into a stable foam.
The step that matters
Stirring the egg mixture into the scalded milk. Egg proteins set at higher temperatures and can curdle if the mixture gets too hot or is stirred too little. Stirring steadily while adding the eggs keeps the custard smooth and thickened.
“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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