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Meringues

A peach pudding topped with a meringue made from egg whites and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Meringues

Why it works: Peach and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,308 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Meringues

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the base

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Melt the butter and beat in the yolks of four eggs one at a time.

  3. Butter a round pie dish and add 1 pint of tinned peaches.

  4. Sprinkle cornflour over the peaches.

  5. Bake the pudding for about 25 minutes.

Make the meringue

  1. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks with 2 tablespoons of caster sugar.

  2. Spread the egg mixture over the cooked pudding, creating a peak in the center.

  3. Return to the oven for 3-4 minutes to set the meringue.

Finish and serve

  1. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.

  2. Decorate with candied fruits and angelica, then serve on a flat plate.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Peach + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,308 recipes

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

  2. Peach + angelicatop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Sugar + angelicatop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together487 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  5. Egg + peachtop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,048 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Enrich the custard base and add richness and body to the pudding.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they form the light, airy meringue topping.
Cornflour
Thickens the juices from the peaches so the pudding holds its shape.
Caster sugar
Sweetens the meringue and helps the whites hold their stiff peaks.
Tinned peaches
Provide the fruit base and moisture, and their juices are thickened by the cornflour.

The step that matters

Beating the egg whites to stiff peaks. Whites must be whipped until they hold firm peaks, with sugar added, so the meringue traps air and stays light. Under-whipped whites will collapse and weep, while a short, hot set in the oven keeps the meringue from toughening or browning too far.

Swap the angelica

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Gingerfits better
  4. Angelicathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, peach, sugar. 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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