Why it works: Milk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Delmonico Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the custard
In a saucepan, combine milk, beaten egg yolks, and 6 tablespoons of sugar.
Boil for 3 to 4 minutes, then pour into a pudding dish.
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for about 30 minutes.
Top and finish
Beat the egg whites with 6 tablespoons of sugar until stiff peaks form.
Spread the egg white mixture over the top of the pudding.
Return the pudding to the oven until the top is a delicate brown.
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 + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard, giving it its soft, set body.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard and add richness through their proteins and fat.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a stiff meringue that forms the light, browned topping.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and helps stabilize the whipped egg white topping.
The step that matters
Beating the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Under-whipped whites collapse and weep, while over-whipped whites turn dry and grainy. Properly stiff whites trap air that gives the meringue its volume and stable topping.
“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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