Why it works: Lemon and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,950 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Lemon 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.
Prepare the base
Wipe the lemons clean.
Grate the outer rind of the lemons into a bowl with the sugar.
Pound the sugar with the cinnamon in a mortar.
In a basin, combine the cake crumbs with the sugar and cinnamon. Mix thoroughly.
Squeeze the juice of the lemons through a strainer into the basin.
Add the yolks of the eggs to the mixture and combine well.
Add the liquids and whites
Stir in the cream and milk smoothly with a wooden spoon.
In a separate bowl, place the whites of two eggs. Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks.
Gently fold the whipped egg whites into the mixture.
Bake
Line the edge of a pie dish with puff pastry.
Pour the mixture into the dish.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 20 minutes, until pale brown.
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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Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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 bind the custard and whipped whites lighten the texture as they set.
- Cake crumbs
- Provide body and absorb the liquid so the pudding holds together.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and balances the sharpness of the lemon.
- Lemons
- Supply acidity and aroma from the rind and juice.
- Cream
- Adds fat and richness, giving a softer, smoother texture.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and mildness, loosening the mixture before baking.
The step that matters
Folding in the whipped egg whites. Whites hold air only when whipped to stiff peaks; folding gently keeps that air in, so the pudding rises and stays light rather than collapsing.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, cream, milk, cinnamon):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, cream, milk, cinnamon. 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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