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Dessert

Nesselrode Pudding

A sweet almond pudding with raisins, currants, citron, and maraschino.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and raisin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,781 recipes. Both carry 2-nonanone, which smells fruity, floral. The science ↓

Nesselrode Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the almonds

  1. Blanch and peel the sweet and bitter almonds.

  2. Put the almonds in a saucepan with the syrup and simmer until soft.

  3. Drain the almonds, pound them in a mortar, and pass through a fine sieve.

Make the custard

  1. In a separate bowl, combine the egg yolks and sugar, then stir in the cream over low heat until thickened.

  2. Add the almond puree to the custard, strain into a bowl, and whip until smooth.

  3. Stir in the maraschino.

Add the fruit

  1. Stir the raisins.

  2. Wash the currants.

  3. Cut the citron into pieces.

  4. Cook the fruits in the reserved syrup until tender.

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. Almond + raisintop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  2. Almond + vanillatop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,961 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Syrup + sugartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

Vanilla and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Sweet almonds
Give the pudding its nutty flavour and a smooth, body-filled texture once pureed.
Egg yolks
Thicken the cream into a custard and add richness when gently heated.
Cream
Adds fat and richness, giving the pudding a soft, silky mouthfeel.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and balances the almond and maraschino flavours.
Raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and a chewy contrast to the smooth pudding.
Citron
Adds candied-fruit flavour and a firm, chewy bite throughout the pudding.

The step that matters

Thicken the custard gently over low heat. Egg yolks set at moderate temperatures, and too much heat makes them scramble and curdle. Cook slowly, stirring constantly, and stop once the custard thickens enough to coat a spoon.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (almond, syrup, vanilla, egg, sugar, cream, raisin):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Peachfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against almond, syrup, vanilla, egg, sugar, cream, raisin. 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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