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Dessert

Honeycomb Pudding

A custard pudding made with eggs, milk, gelatin, sugar, and vanilla, folded with whipped egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Honeycomb Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Separate the yolks and whites of the eggs.

  2. Boil the milk, then beat the yolks in a bowl and pour the slightly cooled milk onto them.

  3. Add the gelatine and stir well.

  4. Return to the saucepan and heat until thickened, being careful not to curdle.

  5. Once the gelatine is dissolved and the mixture thickens, remove from heat and add the sugar and vanilla.

  6. Allow to cool completely.

Set and mould

  1. When it begins to set, whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks and gently fold into the custard.

  2. When nearly set, pour into a wetted mold.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

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

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  3. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and vanilla 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

Eggs
Yolks thicken the custard, and whipped whites create the light, airy honeycomb texture.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard that thickens when heated with the yolks.
Gelatine
Sets the mixture so it holds its shape when chilled and unmoulded.
Castor sugar
Sweetens the pudding and helps stabilise the whisked egg whites.

The step that matters

Heating the yolk and milk mixture. Egg yolks curdle if overheated, which makes the custard grainy. Heat gently and stop once it has thickened to keep it smooth.

“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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