Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Semolina Pudding, a LA Baden
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 semolina base
In a saucepan, mix semolina, sugar, orange‑flower water, half the butter, 2 eggs, cream, and salt.
Stir over medium heat until it boils.
Continue stirring until smooth and it no longer sticks to the sides.
Remove from heat.
Gradually mix in the remaining eggs and butter, along with the crushed ratafias.
Bake and serve
Grease a plain mold with butter.
Fill the mold with the semolina mixture.
Place the mold in a deep baking dish filled with hot water.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Turn the pudding out onto a serving dish.
Pour fruit or custard sauce over it before serving.
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.
-
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Semolina + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together351 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Semolina
- Forms the thick body of the pudding as it cooks and sets.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and set it firmly when baked in water.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a tender, smooth texture to the pudding.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and richness, keeping the pudding soft and creamy.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps it brown lightly at the edges.
The step that matters
Stirring the semolina base until it pulls from the sides. Semolina must be cooked until its starch gelatinizes and the mixture thickens; stopping early leaves a loose, grainy pudding that will not hold its shape when turned out.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (semolina, sugar, butter, egg, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Lemonfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against semolina, sugar, butter, egg, 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.
More semolina pudding recipes
You might also like
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Orange Cream Rice Pudding121 recipes
Orange Gelatin100 recipes
Orange Sherbet73 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.