Why it works: Milk and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,053 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Queen of Puddings
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the custard
Heat the milk and pour it hot over the breadcrumbs.
Let it stand for about 20 minutes.
Add the grated rind of the lemon and sugar to taste.
Beat the yolks of two eggs and mix well into the milk mixture.
Pour into a well-buttered pie dish and bake in a moderate oven (350 °F / 175 °C) until the custard is set.
Top and finish
Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly.
Spread with jam.
Beat the whites of three eggs to a stiff froth with a pinch of sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice.
Pile the egg whites roughly on top of the pudding and set in a cool oven (300 °F / 150 °C) to color slightly.
Serve hot or 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 + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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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).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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
- Eggs
- Yolks thicken the milk custard, while whites whip into a stiff foam that sets and browns on top.
- Breadcrumbs
- Absorb the hot milk to form the body of the custard.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that sets with the egg yolks into a soft custard.
- Jam
- Adds a sweet fruity layer between the custard and the meringue.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and stabilises the whisked egg whites.
The step that matters
Beating the egg whites to a stiff froth. Whites must be beaten until they hold firm peaks; under-beaten whites collapse and weep, and over-beaten whites turn dry and grainy. Gentle oven heat then sets the foam without overcooking the custard beneath.
Flavor stand-ins for the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, egg):
- Vanillabetter flavor fit
- Figabout as good a flavor fit
- Raisinabout as good a flavor fit
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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