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
Make the custard base
Dissolve corn starch in a little cold water and pour over boiling water.
Cook for 5 minutes, then remove from heat.
Stir in sugar, butter, lemon juice, lemon peel, and beaten egg yolks.
Bake and brown
Pour mixture into a pudding dish and bake for 15 minutes.
Cover the top with beaten egg whites mixed with 2 tablespoons sugar and brown.
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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Corn + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,345 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Butter + eggtop 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
- Corn starch
- Thickens the hot liquid into a smooth, sliceable pudding base.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the custard and help it set as it bakes.
- Egg whites
- Whip into a topping that browns and adds a light, airy layer.
- Lemon juice
- Adds the sharp acidity that defines the pudding's flavour.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps the topping brown.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Cooking the cornstarch base. Cornstarch only thickens fully once the mixture reaches a boil and is held briefly, so the base must be cooked thoroughly before the egg yolks are added. Stirring keeps it smooth and prevents lumps from forming.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (corn, sugar, butter, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against corn, sugar, butter, 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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