Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Sweet Puddings
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 the filling
Grate the orange peel and beat the yolks of the eggs.
Mix the grated orange peel and pounded sugar into the egg yolks.
Let the mixture stand for at least 2-3 hours or overnight if possible.
Add the butter to the mixture and combine well.
Bake and serve
Line a dish with puff pastry.
Pour the mixture into the lined dish.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) until lightly set.
For the sauce, combine melted butter, sugar, lemon juice, and brandy.
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.
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Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,634 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Sugar + saucetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,147 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Orange + brandytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,706 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Butter + brandytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,127 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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
- Egg yolks
- Bind the mixture and set into a tender custard when baked.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, tender texture to the filling.
- Orange peel
- Provides aromatic citrus flavor throughout the filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps it bake to a soft, tender set.
- Puff pastry
- Forms a crisp, flaky base that holds the filling.
The step that matters
Bake until lightly set. Egg yolks set at a fairly low temperature, so over-baking can make the filling grainy, curdled, or dry. Pull it from the oven when the centre is just set and still slightly wobbly, since it firms as it cools.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, sauce, lemon, brandy):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Apricotfits about as well
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, sauce, lemon, brandy. 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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