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Dessert

Crystal Palace Pudding

A gelatin-based cream pudding flavored with vanilla and sweetened with sugar, topped with glace cherries.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 ↓

Crystal Palace Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the gelatine or isinglass in a little water.

  2. In a saucepan, combine the cream and milk, and heat gently.

  3. Add the soaked gelatine to the warm cream mixture and stir until dissolved.

Make the custard

  1. Mix in the cornflour, sugar, and vanilla, and cook until thickened.

  2. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

  3. Stir in the egg yolks and mix well.

Set and serve

  1. Pour into a mold and refrigerate until set.

  2. Serve with glace cherries on top.

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. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  4. Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

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

  5. Cream + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

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

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

Gelatine or isinglass
Sets the cream and milk into a firm, sliceable body as it cools.
Cornflour
Thickens the warm dairy so the mixture becomes a smooth, spoonable custard.
Egg yolks
Add richness and help thicken the custard for a smooth texture.
Cream
Provides fat for a rich, silky mouthfeel and a creamy flavour.

The step that matters

Stir in the egg yolks after cooling slightly. Egg yolks can scramble if they meet very hot liquid, leaving lumps. Letting the mixture cool a little before stirring them in keeps the custard 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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