Why it works: Lemon and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,053 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Snow Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the pudding
Soak half a package of gelatine in cold water until softened.
Stir the softened gelatine into 1 pint of boiling water.
Add 1 cup of sugar and the juice of 2 lemons.
When the mixture is cold and just beginning to thicken, fold in the well-beaten egg whites.
Pour the mixture into 2 molds and refrigerate until set.
Make the custard
For the custard, combine the yolks of 3 eggs, 1 pint of milk, and ½ cup of sugar in a saucepan.
Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened.
Serve
Serve the snow pudding in the center of a platter with the custard poured around it.
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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Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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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 + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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 mixture into a firm, sliceable pudding as it cools.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into the mixture to give the pudding its light, airy, snowy texture.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the milk into a smooth custard as they cook gently.
- Milk
- Forms the base of the custard, adding richness and a soft, creamy body.
- Sugar
- Sweetens both the pudding and the custard, balancing the lemon's acidity.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity and bright flavour to the pudding.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. The mixture must be cold and only just thickening before the well-beaten whites are folded in. If it is too warm or too runny, the whites deflate and the pudding loses its airy texture.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Raisinfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, milk. 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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