Why it works: Lemon and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,950 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Custard Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Mix the cinnamon, lemon rind, and sugar with the flour.
Add a little cold milk and the beaten eggs.
Pour in the boiling milk while stirring continuously.
Strain through a coarse sieve or small tin strainer.
Cook
Bake in a buttered dish or boil in a basin.
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.
-
Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
-
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Eggs
- Set the custard as they cook, giving it body and a tender, sliceable structure.
- Flour
- Thickens the mixture so the custard holds its shape rather than running.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base, and its heat helps cook the eggs and flour into a smooth custard.
- White sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps balance the savoury notes of the eggs and milk.
- Lemon rind
- Adds bright citrus aroma that lifts the flavour of the custard.
- Powdered cinnamon
- Adds warm spiced aroma to the custard.
The step that matters
Pour in the boiling milk while stirring continuously. Adding hot milk to egg and flour mixture can scramble the eggs or leave lumps. Constant stirring spreads the heat evenly so the starch and egg proteins thicken into a smooth custard.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, flour, sugar, egg, cinnamon):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, flour, sugar, egg, cinnamon. 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.
More custard pudding recipes
You might also like
Lemon Cake228 recipes
Lemon Ice147 recipes
Lemon Sherbet103 recipes
Cinnamon Rolls71 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.