Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Orange Pudding, with Meringue Crust
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the oranges
Peel the oranges, remove all the pith, and slice them.
Lay the orange slices at the bottom of a pie dish and sprinkle with ¼ lb of castor sugar.
Make the custard
In a saucepan, bring ½ pint of milk to a boil, then add the remaining sugar.
Mix the cornflour with a little cold milk.
Stir the cornflour mixture into the boiling milk, stirring until it thickens.
Separate the egg yolks from the whites.
Beat the yolks with the rest of the cold milk.
Stir the yolk mixture into the thickened milk off the heat.
Flavor with a little lemon.
Bake and top with meringue
Pour the custard over the oranges and bake in a moderate oven (350°F/175°C) for about 20 minutes, or until the custard is set.
For the meringue, whip the egg whites to stiff peaks.
Gradually sprinkle in the 6 oz of sugar and beat until combined.
Spread the meringue over the pudding and return to a cool oven (300°F/150°C) until lightly golden.
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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Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,634 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Orange + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,696 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + eggtop 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
- Oranges
- Provide the main fruit flavor and juicy layer beneath the custard.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard and add richness and a smooth texture.
- Cornflour
- Thickens the milk into a smooth custard as it heats.
- Egg whites
- Whip into a foam that forms the light, sweet meringue topping.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard.
The step that matters
Stirring the yolk mixture into the thickened milk off the heat. Adding cold yolks to very hot milk can scramble them, leaving lumps. Removing the pan from the heat first lets the yolks thicken gently and evenly into a smooth custard.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, milk, egg, lemon):
- Vanillafits better
- Orangethe original
- Figfits about as well
- Blueberryfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, 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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