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 ↓
Lemon Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Scald the milk.
Pour the scalded milk over the bread crumbs.
Let it cool.
Make the pudding
Beat the egg yolks and 1 cup of granulated sugar together.
Mix in the corn starch.
Add the grated lemon rind just before baking.
Bake for 20 minutes at 350°F (175°C).
Top and serve
Beat the egg whites and 1 cup of powdered sugar together.
Add the lemon juice.
Once the pudding is done, spread the egg white mixture on top.
Return to the oven for a few minutes.
Serve cold.
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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Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
-
Corn + lemontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,927 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Yolks thicken the custard and whites form a light topping that sets when heated.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that gives the pudding its moist, tender body.
- Bread crumbs
- Soak up the scalded milk to give the pudding body and structure.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the custard and softens its texture.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the custard as it heats, helping it hold its shape.
- Lemon
- Adds bright acidity and fragrant citrus aroma from the rind and juice.
The step that matters
Spreading and returning the egg white topping. Beaten egg whites are a foam that sets with gentle heat. Leaving them in the oven too long can make them weep liquid or turn tough and rubbery, so watch them closely during the short final bake.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, bread, corn, sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, bread, corn, sugar, 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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