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Dessert

Nesselrode Pudding

A fruit custard pudding made with pineapple, candied fruit, spices, and alcohol, thickened with isinglass and served chilled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and apricot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 608 recipes. Both carry 4-methoxybenzaldehyde, which smells sweet, anise. The science ↓

Nesselrode Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Combine isinglass, loaf sugar, vanilla, and new milk in an enamelled saucepan. Boil gently for 10 minutes.

  2. Beat the yolks of the eggs. Stir them into the hot milk mixture, then stir over heat until boiling.

  3. Strain the mixture into a basin.

Prepare the fruit and cream

  1. Cut the fruits into half-inch squares. Pour the alcohol over them and let stand for 30 minutes.

  2. Beat the double cream until frothy. Stir it into the custard when nearly cold.

Set and serve

  1. Add the fruit to the custard and stir the mixture rapidly for 5 minutes.

  2. Rinse a mold in cold water. Pour the pudding into the mold and place it in a pan surrounded by rough ice. Stir until set.

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. Vanilla + apricottop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together608 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

  2. Vanilla + pineappletop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together911 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  3. Pineapple + apricottop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together377 recipes

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

  4. Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  5. Pineapple + orangetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,664 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Isinglass
Gelatin-like setting agent that firms the custard as it cools.
Egg yolks
Thicken the custard and add richness and smooth texture.
Double cream
Adds fat and richness, giving a lighter, creamier texture to the set pudding.
Loaf sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the richness of the cream and yolks.
New milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard that the other ingredients set within.

The step that matters

Stir the custard while it cools and sets. Stirring keeps the mixture smooth and evenly textured as the isinglass gels, and keeps the fruit from sinking to the bottom before the pudding firms.

Swap the angelica

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, vanilla, milk, egg, pineapple, apricot, orange):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Gingerfits about as well
  3. Nutmegfits about as well
  4. Angelicathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, vanilla, milk, egg, pineapple, apricot, 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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