Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Delicious Lemon Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the custard
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Mix the flour with part of the milk to form a smooth paste.
Add the lemon juice, grated rind, sugar, and beaten egg yolks to the paste.
Incorporate the remaining milk, rinsing the bowl with it.
Bake and finish
Line a plate with puff pastry, about ¼ inch thick.
Pour the custard mixture into the lined plate and bake until set.
Beat the egg whites until stiff, then add 2 tablespoons of sugar.
Spread the meringue over the top of the pudding and return to the oven to brown.
Serve with very cold cream or whipped cream.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Eggs
- Yolks thicken the custard as they set, and whites whip into the meringue for structure.
- Flour
- Starch thickens the milk and lemon mixture so it holds a smooth, sliceable body.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard and gives it richness and a soft, tender texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and, in the meringue, stabilizes the whipped egg whites.
- Lemon
- Juice adds acidity and the grated rind adds aromatic citrus flavour to the custard.
The step that matters
Baking the custard until set. Egg yolks coagulate as they heat, so underbaking leaves the custard runny, while overbaking makes it curdle, weep, and turn grainy.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, flour, milk, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, flour, milk, cream. 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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