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Dessert

Semolina Pudding, a LA Baden

A semolina pudding made with butter, eggs, cream, and ratafias, baked in a water bath.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Semolina Pudding, a LA Baden

Ingredients

Directions

Make the semolina base

  1. Mix semolina, sugar, orange‑flower water, half the butter, 2 eggs, cream, and salt in a saucepan.

  2. Stir over medium heat until it boils, then work until smooth and it no longer sticks to the sides.

Finish and set

  1. Remove from heat and gradually mix in remaining eggs and butter, along with bruised ratafias.

  2. Butter a plain mold and fill it with the semolina mixture.

  3. Place the mold in a deep saucepan half‑filled with hot water.

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

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

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

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

  3. Semolina + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together351 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  4. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Semolina
Forms the thick body of the pudding as it cooks and sets.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set firm when heated.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, tender texture.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, softening the set texture.
Powdered sugar
Adds sweetness and helps give a smooth texture.
Ratafias
Add a bitter almond aroma and a crumbly texture.

The step that matters

Work the semolina until smooth after it boils. Semolina thickens quickly as it heats and can turn lumpy or stick to the pan. Stirring until smooth and no longer clinging to the sides gives an even, tender set before the eggs and butter are added.

Swap the orange

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Lemonfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against semolina, sugar, butter, egg, 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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