Skip to main content
Dessert

Almond Tudding

A sweet almond pudding made with cream, bread crumbs, almonds, eggs, sugar, butter, and brandy, baked until set.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Almond and orange are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,125 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Almond Tudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the base

  1. Pour boiling cream over bread crumbs and let cool.

  2. Gradually mix in the almond paste with a little orange-flower water or spring water.

  3. Stir in the beaten egg yolks, egg whites, sugar, and clarified butter.

  4. Transfer the mixture to a clean saucepan and stir over low heat until thick, but do not boil.

  5. Once cool, add brandy or noyau.

Bake

  1. Pour the mixture into a dish lined with puff paste.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.

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. Almond + orangetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,125 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  3. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  4. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the mixture as they set and add richness to the filling.
Egg whites
Add lightness and help the topping set and rise slightly in the oven.
Sweet almonds
Provide the main flavour and a fine, moist body to the filling.
Clarified butter
Adds fat for a smooth, tender texture and gentle browning.
Bread crumbs
Soak up the hot cream to give the filling body and structure.

The step that matters

Cooking the custard base over low heat. Egg yolks thicken as they warm, but if the mixture boils the proteins curdle and the texture turns grainy. Stirring over low heat until thick and stopping there keeps it smooth.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, cream, almond, egg, sugar, butter, brandy):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Apricotfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, cream, almond, egg, sugar, butter, brandy. 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.

You might also like

Orange Bundt CakeOrange Bundt Cake349 recipesBread PuddingBread Pudding153 recipesOrange Cream Rice PuddingOrange Cream Rice Pudding121 recipesOrange GelatinOrange Gelatin100 recipes