Why it works: Carrot and orange match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Carrot Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the carrots and crumbs
Wash and scrape the carrots clean.
Grate the red part of the carrots into a bowl.
Sift the bread crumbs through a wire sieve into the bowl until you have about 3 oz.
Add the bread crumbs and 1 oz of castor sugar to the grated carrots.
Make the custard
Melt 2 oz of butter in a saucepan over low heat.
Remove the saucepan from heat and stir in ⅓ cup of sherry, ½ cup of cream, and 1 tablespoon of orange flower water.
Add the yolks of 2 eggs to the mixture.
Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks and gently fold them into the mixture.
Combine the mixture with the carrots and bread crumbs, mixing well.
Bake
Line a 1‑pint pie dish with puff pastry.
Pour the pudding mixture into the lined pie dish.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350 °F (175 °C) for about 45 minutes.
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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Carrot + orangetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together737 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sherry + orangetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together823 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Carrots
- Provide the bulk and sweetness of the pudding while adding moisture.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb liquid and give the pudding body so it holds together when baked.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and, once whipped whites are folded in, lighten its texture as it sets.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, contributing to a tender texture and flavor.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and richness, producing a softer, smoother set.
- Castor sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps brown the surface during baking.
The step that matters
Folding in the whipped egg whites. Whites must be whipped to stiff peaks and folded gently so the air bubbles are kept; overmixing deflates them, leaving a denser pudding instead of a light, risen one.
Swap the carrot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, butter, cream, sherry, egg, sugar, orange):
- Capsicumfits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Sweet potatofits better
- Carrotthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, butter, cream, sherry, egg, sugar, orange. 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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