Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. 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.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form and set aside.
In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Make the filling
Add the egg yolks, sweet milk, corn starch, and lemon juice to the butter mixture and mix well.
Gently fold in the beaten egg whites.
Bake
Pour the mixture into a prepared crust and bake for about 30-40 minutes or until set.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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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).
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Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Yolks thicken and enrich the filling, while whipped whites lighten its texture.
- Butter
- Creaming with sugar traps air and adds richness and a tender crumb.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps cream the butter into a light base.
- Sweet milk
- Adds moisture and body to the filling.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the filling so it sets when baked.
- Lemon juice
- Provides the sharp acidity that defines the lemon flavour.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Whites hold air only when whipped to stiff peaks. Stirring them vigorously deflates the foam and makes the pudding dense, so fold gently and keep the mixture airy.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, sugar, milk, corn):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, sugar, milk, 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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