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Dessert

Colo Cabinet Pudding

A custard pudding made with Savoy biscuits, ratafias, and candied cherries, set with gelatin.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Biscuit and angelica share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 69 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Colo Cabinet Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Prepare the mold as directed for Charlotte Russe.

Make the custard

  1. Heat the milk and sugar until nearly boiling, then stir into the beaten egg yolks.

  2. Return to the heat and stir until the mixture thickens, but do not let it boil.

  3. Dissolve the gelatine in 1 or 2 tablespoons of water and add it to the custard.

  4. When nearly cold, stir in the cream and flavor with vanilla.

Assemble and chill

  1. Arrange the ratafias and trimmings of the Savoy biscuits in the mold.

  2. Pour the custard mixture over the biscuits when it is cold and just about to set.

  3. Place in the refrigerator or a cold place until ready to serve.

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. Biscuit + angelicatop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together69 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  3. Angelica + vanillatop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together170 recipes

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

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).

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

Savoy biscuits
Form the structure of the pudding, soaking up custard and holding its shape when set.
Egg yolks
Thicken the custard and add richness through their emulsifying proteins.
Gelatine
Sets the custard so the pudding holds its shape when turned out or served.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard, carrying the sugar and setting proteins.
Cream
Adds fat for a smoother, richer texture in the finished custard.
Ratafias
Add almond-like aroma and light sweetness among the biscuits.

The step that matters

Pour the custard when cold and just about to set. Egg custard thickens quickly and can curdle or scramble if overheated, so it must be cool. Pouring it while still runny lets it soak into the biscuits, while letting it set too far first leaves it unable to bond with them.

Swap the angelica

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (biscuit, sugar, milk, cream, egg, vanilla):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Angelicathe original
  4. Capersfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against biscuit, sugar, milk, cream, egg, vanilla. 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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