Why it works: Corn and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,927 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Lemon 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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Make the pudding
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, combine the egg yolks, 1 cup of sugar, butter, corn starch, boiling water, lemon juice, and lemon rind.
Pour the mixture into a baking dish and bake until set, about 30 minutes.
Top and serve
Whip the egg whites until soft peaks form, then gradually add the remaining ¾ cup of sugar to make a meringue.
Spread the meringue over the pudding and return to the oven to brown, about 10 minutes.
Let cool and serve 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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Corn + lemontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,927 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Butter + corntop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,345 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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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
- Eggs
- Yolks thicken the custard base while whites whip into the meringue topping for structure.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps stabilise the whipped egg white meringue.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the lemon mixture as it heats, giving the pudding its set body.
- Lemon juice
- Adds the sharp acidity that defines the dish's lemon flavour.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a richer, smoother texture in the pudding.
The step that matters
Baking until set. Underbaked pudding stays runny because the cornstarch has not fully thickened, while overbaking can make the custard dense. Set the base before adding the meringue so it holds its shape.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, corn):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, 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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