Why it works: Orange and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,437 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Custard Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Mix the milk with the flour gradually.
Add the egg yolks, orange-flower water, and cinnamon.
Butter a basin that will hold the mixture and pour the batter in.
Tie a floured cloth over the basin.
Cook
Place it in boiling water and turn it occasionally for a few minutes.
Boil for half an hour.
Serve
Serve with currant jelly and sweet sauce.
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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Orange + cinnamontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,437 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
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).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cinnamon + curranttop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,099 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard, providing moisture and a soft, tender texture.
- Flour
- Thickens the milk and gives the pudding body and structure as it cooks.
- Egg yolks
- Set during cooking to firm the custard and add richness.
- Orange-flower water
- Adds a delicate floral aroma to the custard.
The step that matters
Placing the basin in boiling water. Egg proteins set gently and evenly. Turning the basin helps heat it uniformly, and vigorous boiling can make the custard rough, bubbly, or full of holes.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, flour, egg, orange, cinnamon, sauce):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, flour, egg, orange, cinnamon, sauce. 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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