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Dessert

Caramel Pudding

A steamed pudding made from sugar, egg yolks, cream, and served with burnt brandy sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Caramel Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mold

  1. Place the pounded sugar in a plain mold.

  2. Set the mold on a hot plate until the sugar melts.

  3. Coat the inside of the mold with the melted sugar.

Make and steam the pudding

  1. In a bowl, mix the egg yolks and cream, sweetening to taste.

  2. Pour the mixture into the prepared mold.

  3. Steam for 30 minutes.

Make the sauce and serve

  1. Make a sauce by mixing burnt brandy with sugar.

  2. Pour the sauce around the pudding before serving.

  3. Serve the pudding cold for the best flavor.

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

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

  2. Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,787 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Sugar + saucetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,147 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Cream + brandytop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,635 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  5. Egg + brandytop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,340 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).

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

What each ingredient does

Pounded sugar
Melts to form the caramel coating that lines the mold and becomes the sauce-like top layer.
Egg yolks
Set during steaming to give the pudding its firm, custard-like structure.
Cream
Adds richness and moisture, producing a smooth, tender custard texture.

The step that matters

Melting the sugar in the mold. Sugar melts and darkens quickly on a hot plate; if it runs too far it turns bitter and burnt, while too little heat leaves it uncoated and unmelted. Watching the color closely gives an even, golden caramel lining.

“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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