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Dessert

Vermicelli Pudding

A baked pudding made with vermicelli, milk, butter, sugar, eggs, apples, and lemon rind.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Vermicelli Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA very gentle oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very gentle oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the pudding base

  1. Bring 1 quart of milk to a boil.

  2. Gradually add 4 ounces of vermicelli while stirring to prevent lumps.

  3. Boil gently for about 20 minutes, stirring frequently until thick and tender.

  4. Stir in 2 ounces of butter and 1 cup of pounded sugar until well combined.

  5. Let the mixture cool in a bowl, stirring occasionally.

Finish and bake

  1. Whisk 5 eggs until light, then quickly beat them into the mixture.

  2. Add the grated rind of a lemon or lemon-brandy.

  3. Pour the pudding into a buttered dish and cover with quartered apples, pressing them into the mixture.

  4. Bake in a gentle oven at 300°F (150°C) for 45 minutes to 1 hour until the apples are tender.

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

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

  2. Milk + appletop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,104 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  3. Lemon + appletop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,551 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Butter + appletop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,706 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Vermicelli
Thickens the milk as it cooks and gives the pudding its soft, tender body.
Eggs
Set during baking to bind the pudding and give it a custard-like richness.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth, rich mouthfeel and a softer texture.
Pounded sugar
Sweetens the pudding and helps it brown lightly as it bakes.
Apples
Soften in the oven and add fruity moisture and tartness on top of the pudding.

The step that matters

Boil the vermicelli gently while stirring. Vermicelli added to hot milk can clump and scorch on the bottom of the pan. Frequent stirring and gentle heat keep the starch dispersed and the milk from sticking, giving a smooth, evenly thickened base.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, butter, sugar, egg, lemon):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Peachfits about as well
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, sugar, egg, lemon. 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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