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Dessert

Tansey Pudding

A custard-like pudding made with almonds, syrup, French roll crumbs, nutmeg, brandy, tansy juice, butter, citron slices, cream, lemon, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,115 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Tansey Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Blanch and finely pound the almonds.

Make the pudding

  1. In a saucepan, combine the almonds, syrup of loaves, French roll crumb, nutmeg, brandy, tansy juice, butter, and citron slices.

  2. Pour in the boiling cream or milk and sweeten to taste.

  3. Once cooled, mix well and add the lemon juice and beaten eggs.

  4. Cook by boiling or baking.

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. Almond + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,115 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Syrup + sugartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set the custard and bind the mixture into a firm, sliceable pudding.
Cream or milk
Provides moisture and richness, and softens the crumb into a custard base.
Butter
Adds fat for a rich, tender texture and a smooth mouthfeel.
French roll crumb
Acts as a starch that soaks up liquid and gives the pudding body.
Almonds
Contribute richness, nutty flavour and a fine, creamy texture when pounded.

The step that matters

Add the eggs after the mixture has cooled. Eggs scramble if they meet very hot liquid, leaving curds instead of a smooth custard. Letting the mixture cool before mixing in the beaten eggs keeps the texture even and the pudding set evenly.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (almond, syrup, nutmeg, brandy, butter, cream, sugar):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against almond, syrup, nutmeg, brandy, butter, cream, sugar. 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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