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Dessert

Meringue Pudding

A baked pudding made with cornstarch, milk, sugar, butter, egg yolks, peaches, and topped with meringue and candied fruits.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓

Meringue Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the custard

  1. In a basin, blend cornstarch with a small amount of water until smooth.

  2. Gradually mix in boiling milk and sweeten with sugar.

  3. Transfer to a saucepan and stir over heat for 5 minutes.

  4. Remove from heat and stir in butter until melted.

  5. Add egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Assemble and bake

  1. Butter a round pie dish and place canned peaches inside.

  2. Pour cornstarch mixture over peaches.

  3. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 25-30 minutes.

Make the meringue and finish

  1. Beat egg whites with sugar until stiff peaks form.

  2. Spread egg mixture over pudding and return to oven for 4-5 minutes to set meringue.

  3. Let cool completely, then decorate with candied fruits and angelica.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Milk + peachtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together781 recipes

    Shared aroma: phellandrene (minty).

  3. Butter + peachtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together860 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  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

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard and enrich its texture as they set with the cornstarch.
Cornstarch
Thickens the milk mixture into a smooth custard that holds its shape.
Egg whites
Whipped with sugar to form the stable, airy meringue topping.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel to the custard.
Canned peaches
Provide fruit flavor and moisture beneath the custard.

The step that matters

Beat egg whites with sugar until stiff peaks form. Under-beaten whites will not hold air and the meringue will collapse or weep; over-beaten whites turn grainy and dry. Sugar added gradually helps stabilise the foam.

Swap the angelica

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Gingerfits better
  4. Angelicathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, butter, egg, peach. 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.

More meringue pudding recipes

Lemon 32Apple 22Cream 9Chocolate 8Rice 5Cornstarch 4 See all 31 →

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