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 ↓
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.
Prepare the filling
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, beat the yolks of 3 eggs with 9 tablespoons of sugar. Add the juice of 3 lemons, 1 tablespoon of cornstarch, 1 teaspoon of melted butter, and ½ cup of sweet milk. Mix well.
Make a pie crust and line a dish with it.
Pour the lemon mixture into the crust and bake until set.
Top and brown
In another bowl, beat the whites of the 3 eggs with 3 tablespoons of sugar until stiff peaks form.
Spread the meringue over the baked pudding and return to the oven to brown slightly.
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.
-
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
-
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the filling and add richness to the lemon custard.
- Lemon juice
- Provides the sharp acidity that defines the pie's flavour.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the lemon filling so it sets when baked.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into stiff peaks to form the airy meringue topping.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps stabilise the whipped meringue.
The step that matters
Whipping the egg whites to stiff peaks. Egg whites must be beaten until stiff and free of fat or yolk, because they trap air and form the meringue's structure. Under-whipped whites collapse and weep, while greasy bowls prevent proper foaming.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Coconutfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, milk. 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.
You might also like
Lemon Cake228 recipes
Lemon Ice147 recipes
Lemon Sherbet103 recipes
Lemon Custard64 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.