Why it works: Egg and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Pudding-, Orange
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the filling
Cut the oranges into quarters and remove the seeds.
Pound the oranges with the sugar in a mortar, then strain through a sieve.
Add the egg yolks and beaten egg whites to the orange mixture, along with the melted butter. Mix everything well together.
Bake
Line a dish with rough puff pastry and pour in the mixture.
Twist some pastry strips across the top and bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until set.
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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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Orange + buttertop 23% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,301 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Orange and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 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
- Oranges
- Provide the main flavour and the bulk of the pudding's body.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and balances the sharpness of the orange.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the filling and help it set into a custard-like texture.
- Egg whites
- Add lightness and help the filling set as it bakes.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, rounded mouthfeel to the filling.
- Rough puff pastry
- Forms the crisp, flaky case that holds the filling and browns in the oven.
The step that matters
Baking until set. Eggs thicken as they heat, so the pudding must be baked until just set. Overbaking can make the egg curdle and turn the texture grainy or rubbery.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, butter. 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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