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Dessert

A Very Fine Cabinet Pudding

A pudding made with dried cherries, sponge biscuits, ratifias, sugar, vanilla or lemon rind, cream, eggs, brandy, baked in a buttered mold.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter 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 ↓

A Very Fine Cabinet Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mold

  1. Butter a mold thickly and decorate it with dried cherries or stoned muscatel raisins.

  2. Layer in the sponge biscuits and ratifias.

Make the custard

  1. Sweeten with sugar and add vanilla or lemon rind and bruised almonds.

  2. Mix in the thin cream and strain it into a bowl.

  3. Whisk in the egg yolks and egg whites until well combined.

  4. Allow the mixture to cool slightly, then gradually stir in the brandy.

Steam and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into the mold and steam or boil gently for 1 hour.

  2. Serve with a well-made wine sauce.

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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Biscuit + vanillatop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together422 recipes

    Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).

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

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

  5. Vanilla + brandytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together806 recipes

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

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

Egg yolks
Enrich and thicken the custard so it sets firm yet tender when steamed.
Egg whites
Add lightness and help the custard set with a softer, airier texture.
Sponge biscuits
Soak up the custard and give the pudding its body and structure.
Thin cream
Supplies fat and richness, giving the custard a smooth, tender texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and balances the richness of the cream and eggs.
Brandy
Adds aroma and warmth to the custard.

The step that matters

Cool the mixture before adding the brandy. Alcohol added to a very hot custard can evaporate or cause uneven flavour, and hot eggs may scramble or curdle. Letting it cool slightly keeps the custard smooth and lets the brandy's aroma stay in the pudding.

“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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