Why it works: Milk and corn are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,955 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓
Snow Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the pudding
Dissolve the gelatine in boiling water.
When nearly cool, add sugar and lemon juice, then strain.
Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks and fold into the mixture.
Pour into a mold and refrigerate until set.
Make the custard and serve
For the custard, stir corn starch into boiling milk and sweeten to taste.
Serve the snow pudding cold with the custard.
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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Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Lemon + corntop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,927 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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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).
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 firm, sliceable pudding once chilled.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they give the pudding its light, airy, foamy texture.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the milk into a smooth custard to serve alongside the pudding.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness of the pudding.
The step that matters
Fold the egg whites into the mixture. Fold gently so the whipped foam keeps its air. Stirring or deflating it makes the pudding dense, and it must be added while the gelatine mixture is still cool enough not to melt the foam but not so cold that it sets.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, milk, corn):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, 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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