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Dessert

Cold Pudding a LA Porlirio Diaz

A chilled pudding made with currants, candied citron, butter, sugar, eggs, milk, lemon essence, whipped cream, and maraschino.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Cold Pudding a LA Porlirio Diaz

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the molds

  1. Butter six small pudding molds.

  2. Sugar six small pudding molds.

  3. Fill molds equally with currants and citron mixture.

Make the custard

  1. In a bowl, beat together sugar and eggs for 2 minutes.

  2. Add cold milk and mix for 1 minute.

  3. Strain into another bowl.

  4. Stir in lemon essence.

  5. Mix lightly for 1 minute.

  6. Pour the mixture slowly over the puddings, allowing them to absorb.

Steam and chill

  1. Place molds in a pan filled with warm water.

  2. Steam in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 30 minutes.

  3. Remove from the pan and cool for 1 hour.

  4. Refrigerate until serving.

Serve

  1. Mix whipped cream with maraschino for 2 minutes.

  2. Refrigerate.

  3. Run a thin knife around each pudding to detach.

  4. Pour maraschino sauce over before serving.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

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

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

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

  4. Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Raw eggs bind the custard and help it set as it steams.
Currants
Dried currants provide the chewy fruit body and sweetness in each pudding.
Milk
Milk adds moisture and softness to the custard base.
Whipped cream
Whipped cream adds light, airy richness to the finished dessert.
Butter
Butter greases the molds so the puddings release cleanly.

The step that matters

Pour the custard slowly over the puddings. Pouring slowly lets the currants and citron absorb the liquid evenly instead of floating or leaving dry pockets, so each pudding sets uniformly.

Swap the currant

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raspberryfits better
  3. Coconutfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, milk, lemon, 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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