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Dessert

Vermicelli Pudding

A sweet pudding made from vermicelli, cream, butter, sugar, citrus, and eggs, baked until set.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Vermicelli Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Parboil the vermicelli, then drain it in a sieve.

Make the mixture

  1. In a stew-pan, combine the vermicelli, cream, butter, sugar, orange juice, orange rind, lemon rind, lemon juice, and salt.

  2. Cover and simmer slowly until the cream is nearly absorbed.

  3. Turn the mixture out onto a dish to cool.

  4. Add the egg yolks and the beaten egg whites, mixing thoroughly yet lightly.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a well-buttered mold.

  2. Bake for 1½ hours in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).

  3. When done, turn it out onto a dish and serve with sauce.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  5. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Vermicelli
Forms the body of the pudding, absorbing cream and holding its shape when turned out.
Cream
Adds richness and moisture, softening the pasta as it simmers and setting into a custard-like texture.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a tender crumb, and keeps the mold from sticking.
Sugar
Sweetens the pudding and contributes to browning on the surface during baking.
Egg yolks
Enrich the pudding and help it set into a custard-like structure as it bakes.
Egg whites
Whipped whites lighten the mixture and help it rise and hold an airy texture in the oven.

The step that matters

Mixing in the eggs. Folding the yolks and beaten whites in lightly keeps air in the whites, so the pudding rises and stays tender rather than dense. Overmixing deflates the foam.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, butter, sugar, lemon, egg):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raspberryfits about as well
  3. Orangethe original
  4. Coconutfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, butter, sugar, lemon, egg. 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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