Why it works: Butter and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,227 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Lemon 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.
Make the filling
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Combine the butter, lemon peel, lemon juice, egg yolks, and 1½ cups of sugar in a bowl and beat until well mixed.
Line a deep pudding dish with puff pastry and pour the lemon mixture into it.
Bake in the oven until set.
Top and serve
Beat the 5 egg whites to stiff peaks.
Gradually add sugar to the egg whites to taste.
Cover the baked pudding with the meringue.
Return the pudding to the oven for a few minutes to brown.
Serve cold; no sauce is needed.
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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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Lemon + sugartop 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).
Lemon and sugar 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
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the lemon filling as they set, giving it a rich, custard-like body.
- Egg whites
- Whip into stiff peaks to form a light meringue that holds its shape on top.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smoother, softer texture in the filling.
- Lemon juice
- Provides the sharp acidity that balances the sweetness of the sugar.
- White sugar
- Sweetens the filling and, when added to the whites, stabilizes the meringue.
The step that matters
Beating the egg whites to stiff peaks. Whites under-whipped or greasy will not hold stiff peaks, so the meringue may weep or collapse. Adding sugar gradually helps the foam stay stable and glossy.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, egg, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonthe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Figfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg, sugar. 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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