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Dessert

A Marrow Pudding

A custard-like pudding made with cream, milk, Naples biscuit, eggs, marrow, brandy, sweet wine, orange-flower water, currants, candied fruits, baked in puff pastry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Brandy and wine are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,427 recipes. Both carry gamma-nonanolactone, which smells coconut, sweet. 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 and milk with Naples biscuit and bring to a boil.

  2. In a bowl, mix egg yolks, beaten egg whites, soft sugar, chopped marrow, brandy, sack, and orange-flower water.

  3. Add the mixture to the saucepan and stir continuously until thickened.

  4. Remove from heat and let cool.

Bake and serve

  1. Line a dish with puff pastry and pour in the mixture.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  4. Biscuit + orangetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together371 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  5. Brandy + orangetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,706 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 as they set when heated.
Egg whites
Add lightness and help the pudding set with a delicate structure.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, tender texture to the custard.
Milk
Provides liquid that thickens with the eggs into a soft custard.
Naples biscuit
Soaks up the liquid and gives the custard body and structure.
Marrow
Adds richness and a savory, buttery flavor to the custard.

The step that matters

Stir continuously until thickened. Egg yolks can scramble if overheated or left unstirred. Constant stirring over gentle heat keeps the custard smooth and evenly thickened.

Swap the orange

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

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

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