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Dessert

Queen of Puddings

A custard-like pudding made with milk, butter, breadcrumbs, eggs, jam, cherries, and angelica, baked and topped with whipped egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 ↓

Queen of Puddings

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the custard base

  1. Combine milk and butter in a saucepan.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  3. Pour the boiling mixture over the breadcrumbs and sugar.

  4. Add a few drops of vanilla and the egg yolks. Mix the mixture well.

Layer and bake

  1. Pour some of the mixture into a buttered pie dish.

  2. Add a layer of jam on top of the mixture in the dish.

  3. Pour the remaining mixture over the jam layer.

  4. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 35 minutes, until firm.

Top and finish

  1. Whip the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff.

  2. Gradually stir in the caster sugar until well combined.

  3. Spread the whipped egg whites on top of the pudding.

  4. Decorate the pudding with cherries and angelica.

  5. Sprinkle the pudding with caster sugar.

  6. Place the pudding in a cool oven at 300°F (150°C) for about 8 minutes to set and lightly brown the egg whites.

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. Vanilla + angelicatop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together170 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

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

  5. Butter + vanillatop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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
Egg yolks set the custard and whites whipped to stiff peaks form the light topping.
Breadcrumbs
They soak up the hot milk mixture and give the custard its body.
Milk
Provides the liquid that sets with the egg and gives the custard its moisture.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, giving the custard a softer, tender texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and, in the meringue, helps the whites stay glossy and stable.
Jam
Adds a sweet, fruity layer between the custard and the baked base.

The step that matters

Whipping and folding the egg whites. Egg whites must be whipped until stiff and the sugar added gradually so the foam holds its shape. Under-whipped or deflated whites will not stand up on top and may weep or sink during the final bake.

Flavor stand-ins for the angelica

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

  1. Cinnamonbetter flavor fit
  2. Nutmegbetter flavor fit
  3. Cloveabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Angelicathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, milk, egg, vanilla. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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