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Dessert

Semolina Pudding, a LA Baden

A semolina pudding flavored with orange flower water and bruised ratafias, baked in a mold and steamed.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Semolina Pudding, a LA Baden

Ingredients

Directions

Make the semolina base

  1. Mix semolina, sugar, orange flower water, half the butter, 2 eggs, cream, and salt in a saucepan.

  2. Stir over medium heat until it boils.

  3. Work the mixture until smooth and it no longer sticks to the sides.

  4. Remove from heat.

  5. Gradually mix in remaining eggs and butter, along with bruised ratafias.

Mold and steam

  1. Butter a plain mold, then fill it with the semolina mixture.

  2. Place the mold in a deep pan half-filled with hot water.

  3. Steam 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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Semolina + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together351 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  4. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Semolina
Thickens as it cooks and forms the firm body of the pudding.
Eggs
Set and bind the mixture, adding structure and richness.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a tender, smooth texture.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, softening the set pudding.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the pudding and balances the eggs and butter.
Ratafias
Add a bitter almond aroma and a slight crunch when bruised.

The step that matters

Remove from heat before adding the remaining eggs and butter. Eggs mixed into a very hot mixture can scramble and turn grainy. Removing the pan from heat and adding the eggs gradually lets them blend in evenly and keeps the pudding smooth.

Swap the orange

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Lemonfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against semolina, sugar, butter, egg, cream. 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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