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Dessert

Royal Diplomatic Pudding

A gelatin-based pudding with custard and candied cherries.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Royal Diplomatic Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the jelly

  1. Soak the gelatine in cold water for 1-2 hours.

  2. Pour boiling water over the gelatine.

  3. Add lemon juice, sugar, and wine.

  4. Stir and strain.

  5. Add a layer of jelly to a large mould.

  6. Place it on ice until hard.

  7. Garnish with halved candied cherries.

  8. Pour a few spoonfuls of liquid jelly to hold the cherries.

  9. Cover the cherries with more jelly.

  10. Let it harden.

  11. Set a smaller mould in the center of the large one.

  12. Fill the space with jelly.

  13. Fill the small mould with ice.

  14. Place both moulds in a basin of ice water until the jelly hardens.

  15. Remove the ice from the small mould.

  16. Fill it with warm water.

  17. Lift it out carefully.

Make the custard and serve

  1. Boil the milk.

  2. Add soaked gelatine, beaten egg yolks, and sugar.

  3. Strain the mixture.

  4. Add wine and vanilla.

  5. When it thickens, fold in whipped cream.

  6. Pour the custard into the space left by the small mould.

  7. Let it harden.

  8. Turn the pudding out of the mould.

  9. Serve with soft custard around it.

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. Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  4. Lemon + winetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,157 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Lemon + vanillatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,961 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Gelatine
Sets the wine and lemon liquid into a firm jelly that holds its shape.
Egg yolks
Thicken the milk into a custard and add richness.
Cream
Adds lightness and richness to the custard when folded in whipped.
Wine
Adds flavour and acidity to both the jelly and the custard.
Milk
Forms the base of the custard, giving it body and softness.

The step that matters

Pour the custard into the space left by the small mould. The custard must be thick enough to hold its shape but still pourable. If the gelatine has set too far or the custard is too cold, it may not fill the gap cleanly or may leave air pockets against the jelly.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, wine, egg, vanilla, milk, cream):

  1. Strawberryfits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Raspberryfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, wine, egg, vanilla, milk, cream. 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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