Why it works: Milk and plum work together. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 406 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Ice Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Boil the milk with isinglass.
Beat the eggs and mix them with the milk as you would for custards.
Line and fill the mold
Oil a tin mold (do not butter it) and line it with candied fruits.
Pour the custard in gradually to keep the fruit at the bottom.
Chill and serve
Cover the mold and bury it in ice for the whole day.
Turn out the pudding when ready to serve.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Milk + plumtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together406 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + plumtop 30% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together794 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Isinglass
- Gelatin-like setting agent that firms the milk into a sliceable pudding.
- Eggs
- Coagulate as the custard sets, giving the pudding its body and structure.
- New milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard, adding richness and creaminess.
- Candied fruits
- Add sweetness and flavor, and form a decorative layer on the outside once turned out.
The step that matters
Pour the custard in gradually. Pouring slowly lets the liquid settle around the fruit lining instead of dislodging it. A fast pour can shift the fruit out of place, so the pattern is lost when the pudding is turned out.
Swap the plum
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonfits better
- Plumthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg. 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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