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Dessert

Vermicelli Pudding

A sweet pudding made from milk, vermicelli, egg, sugar, and butter, baked until set.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Vermicelli Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA gentle oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a gentle oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Rinse the vermicelli in water.

  2. Combine the rinsed vermicelli and milk in a saucepan over low heat.

  3. Stir often and bring to a boil.

  4. Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring frequently, then cool slightly.

Make the custard

  1. Beat the egg and sugar together, then mix into the cooled vermicelli.

  2. Butter a baking dish and pour the mixture in.

Bake

  1. Bake in a gentle oven at 300°F (150°C) for 20 to 30 minutes.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  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. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  5. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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

Milk
Cooks with the vermicelli to make a soft, creamy base for the pudding.
Egg
Binds the pudding and sets during baking to give it a firm, custard-like texture.
Vermicelli
Thickens the milk as it simmers and gives the pudding its body.
White sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the egg mixture set with a tender texture.

The step that matters

Cool the vermicelli before adding the egg. If the hot mixture meets the egg directly, the egg can scramble instead of blending smoothly. Cooling slightly lets the egg mix in and set evenly during baking.

“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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