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Dessert

Chester Pudding

A sweet almond and sugar pastry baked in a short pastry crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,245 recipes. Both carry 2,3-pentanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Chester Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Roll out the short pastry very thinly and line a small pie dish.

  3. Decorate the edges and brush them with beaten egg.

Make the custard

  1. Melt the butter and sugar in a pan, then add the crushed almonds.

  2. Stir in the yolks of 3 eggs and the whites of 1 egg.

  3. Cook the mixture over gentle heat until it thickens, being careful not to burn it.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into the prepared dish and bake for 30 minutes or until set.

  2. Whip the remaining 2 egg whites with 1 tablespoon of sugar until stiff, then pile on top of the pudding.

  3. Return to the oven for a few minutes to set the topping.

  4. Serve hot or cold.

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. Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

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

  2. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 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

Eggs
Yolks and whites thicken the custard as they set, and whites form the stiff topping.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, tender texture in the filling.
Castor sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps the whipped whites hold their stiff peaks.
Sweet almonds
Add nutty flavour and body to the filling.
Short pastry
Forms the crust that holds the filling in the dish.

The step that matters

Cook the custard over gentle heat. Egg proteins thicken the mixture as they warm, but high heat can scramble the eggs and scorch the sugar and butter. Stirring over gentle heat keeps it smooth and thick.

Swap the almond

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

  1. Almondthe original
  2. Pecansfits about as well
  3. Filbertfits less well
  4. Walnutfits less well

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