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Corn-starch Meringue Pudding

A custard-like pudding thickened with corn starch, topped with meringue and fruit preserves.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Corn-starch Meringue Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Heat 1 quart of rich milk in a saucepan, reserving a little cold milk to dissolve 3 tablespoons of corn-starch.

  2. When the milk begins to boil, stir in the dissolved corn-starch.

  3. Add a pinch of salt, then 1 egg-sized lump of butter.

  4. Once thickened, remove from heat and stir occasionally until cool.

  5. Add the yolks of 4 or 5 eggs and 1 cup of powdered sugar, then flavor with vanilla.

Top and bake

  1. Fold in half of the stiff-beaten egg whites, reserving the other half for the topping.

  2. Bake the pudding.

  3. Spread a layer of jelly or fruit preserves on top.

  4. Sweeten the reserved stiff-beaten egg whites with 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar, then cover the pudding with them.

  5. Bake for 1–2 minutes until lightly browned.

  6. Serve cold with plain or whipped cream.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Sugar + fruit preservetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together37 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Milk
Forms the liquid base that the starch thickens into a custard.
Corn-starch
Swells when heated in the milk, thickening the custard.
Egg yolks
Add richness and help thicken the custard as it sets.
Butter
Adds fat for a smoother, richer custard.
Egg whites
Whipped whites trap air, giving the topping lift and a light texture.
Jelly or fruit preserves
Add sweetness and fruit flavor between the custard and the topping.

The step that matters

Dissolve the corn-starch in cold milk before adding it to the hot milk. Starch dissolved in cold liquid spreads evenly. Added dry or to hot milk, it clumps. Once the milk boils, the starch granules swell and thicken the custard, so the mixture must be stirred while it sets to keep it smooth.

“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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