Why it works: Milk and corn are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,955 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓
Orange Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the oranges
Peel and slice the oranges, removing all seeds, and place them in a dish.
Sprinkle the sugar over the oranges.
Make the custard
Heat the milk in a double boiler until boiling.
In a bowl, beat the egg yolks and mix in the corn starch with a little cold milk until smooth.
Gradually add the egg mixture to the boiling milk, stirring constantly until thickened.
Pour the thickened mixture over the oranges.
Top and bake
Beat the egg whites until stiff, then add the tablespoon of sugar and mix well.
Spread the egg white mixture over the top of the pudding and place in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 1 minute to harden.
Serve hot or chilled.
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 + 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).
-
Orange + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,696 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
-
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and milk 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
- Oranges
- Provide the fruit base and bright citrus flavour of the pudding.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard and add richness to the milk mixture.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the milk mixture so it sets into a smooth custard.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to form a light meringue topping that browns and sets in the oven.
- Milk
- Forms the base of the custard, adding body and creaminess.
- Fine white sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the acidity of the oranges.
The step that matters
Thickening the custard. Egg yolks and cornstarch thicken only when the mixture is heated enough while stirred constantly. Adding the egg mixture too fast or without stirring can curdle it or leave lumps, so the custard must be added gradually and stirred until it thickens.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, milk, egg, corn):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, egg, corn. 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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