Why it works: Sugar and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Snow Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the lemon jelly
Dissolve gelatine in cold water and combine with sugar, lemon rind, boiling water, and lemon juice to make Lemon Jelly.
Strain the mixture and set aside in a cool place, stirring occasionally.
Whip and set
When partially set, beat the mixture until foamy.
Add the stiffly beaten egg whites and beat until the mixture begins to stiffen.
Pile lightly in a glass dish or pour into a moistened mold.
Serve
Serve with Custard Sauce.
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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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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 liquid into a light, wobbly structure that holds the whipped foam.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into foam, they lighten the texture and give the pudding its snowy airiness.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the lemon jelly and balances its tartness.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavor of the jelly.
The step that matters
Beat the egg whites into the partly set jelly. Egg whites must be stiffly beaten before folding in, and the jelly must be only partly set. If the jelly is too firm it will not blend smoothly, and if it is too liquid the foam will collapse and the pudding will not hold its shape.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
- Datesfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg. 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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