Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Snow Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the gelatine base
Soak the gelatine according to package directions.
Add boiling water, tart fruit juice, and sugar; stir until dissolved.
Bring to a boil, then strain and let cool in a cold place for several hours.
Fold and set
When it begins to set, beat the egg whites with salt or lemon juice and sugar until stiff.
Fold the egg whites into the gelatine mixture.
Pour into molds and chill on ice.
Serve
Serve with whipped cream or custard sauce.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid into a soft, firm structure as it cools.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into foam to lighten the pudding and give it its snowy, airy texture.
- Tart fruit juice
- Adds acidity and flavor that balances the sweetness of the sugar.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps stabilize the whipped egg white foam.
The step that matters
Folding the egg whites into the gelatine mixture. The gelatine must be partly set but still fluid, so the whites stay airy. If it is fully set, the foam cannot blend in smoothly. If it is too warm, the foam collapses and the pudding loses its lightness.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Strawberryfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, 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.
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