Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Snow Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the pudding
Dissolve corn starch in a little milk.
Stir sugar into the remaining milk and heat on the stove.
When it begins to boil, stir in the corn starch mixture.
Cook until smooth, then stir in the beaten egg whites and cook a little longer.
Make the sauce and serve
For the sauce, boil the yolks of the eggs with 1 quart of milk and sugar until it thickens like cream.
Let the sauce cool before serving.
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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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Corn + vanillatop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,943 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Sugar + saucetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,147 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
- Corn starch
- Thickens the milk into a smooth, set custard-like pudding.
- Egg whites
- Beaten in at the end to give the pudding a light, airy, foamy texture.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the sauce as it cooks, giving it a creamy body.
- Milk
- Forms the base of both the pudding and the sauce.
The step that matters
Stirring in the beaten egg whites. Egg whites must be cooked gently after being added so they set into soft, airy pieces rather than becoming rubbery or collapsing. Keep the heat moderate and cook only until they are just set.
“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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