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Dessert

A Marrow Pudding

A pudding made with cream, Naples biscuits, eggs, marrow, brandy, sweet wine, and candied fruits.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Brandy and currant are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,057 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

A Marrow 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.

Make the custard

  1. In a saucepan, combine cream or milk and Naples biscuit; bring to a boil.

  2. Beat the egg yolks and whites until very fine, then add soft sugar, chopped marrow, brandy, sack, and orange flower water, and mix well.

  3. Pour the mixture into the saucepan and stir continuously until thickened.

  4. Set aside to cool.

Assemble and bake

  1. Line a dish with puff pastry.

  2. Pour the mixture into the lined dish.

  3. Sprinkle washed currants, sliced marrow, and candied fruits on top.

  4. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 45 minutes.

  5. Serve hot.

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. Brandy + curranttop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Brandy + winetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,427 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

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

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

  4. Wine + curranttop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,323 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  5. Wine + orangetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,046 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard and add richness and a smooth set when cooked.
Egg whites
Add airiness and help the custard set as it bakes.
Cream or milk
Provides the liquid base and moisture that gives the pudding its soft texture.
Naples biscuit
Soaks up the liquid and gives the custard body and structure.
Chopped marrow
Adds richness and fat that gives the pudding a rich, savory-sweet flavor.
Soft sugar
Adds sweetness and helps tenderize the custard.

The step that matters

Stir the custard until thickened. Egg proteins set when heated, but if the mixture overheats or is not stirred constantly it can curdle or scramble. Steady, gentle stirring keeps the custard smooth and evenly thickened before it cools.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, biscuit, egg, sugar, brandy, wine, orange):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Apricotfits better
  3. Lemonfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, biscuit, egg, sugar, brandy, wine, orange. 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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