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Dessert

Corn-starch Pudding

A sweet pudding made from milk, corn starch, sugar, eggs, and flavoring, chilled until set.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Corn-starch Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. In a saucepan, bring the milk and sugar almost to a boil.

  2. Mix the corn starch with a little milk until smooth, then add it to the saucepan along with the salt.

  3. Stir over low heat for 5 minutes without boiling.

  4. Remove from heat and let cool slightly, then stir in the egg yolks until well combined.

  5. Return to low heat for a few moments to slightly cook the eggs.

  6. Add flavoring, such as vanilla or lemon zest.

Chill and serve

  1. Pour into cups or molds and refrigerate until cold and solid.

  2. Serve with fruit sauce or whipped cream.

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 + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  3. Corn + vanillatop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,943 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  4. Milk + corntop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  5. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Corn starch
Thickens the milk into a smooth, set pudding as it heats.
Eggs
Egg yolks enrich the custard and help it set when gently heated.
Rich milk
Forms the liquid base and provides creaminess and body.
Sugar
Sweetens the pudding and balances the flavor.

The step that matters

Stir over low heat without boiling. Cornstarch needs heat to thicken, but boiling can break down its gel and leave the pudding thin. Egg yolks can also scramble if overheated, so keep the heat low and steady.

“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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