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Dessert

Caramel Puddings

A custard pudding flavored with caramelized sugar and lemon, steamed in molds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Caramel Puddings

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Combine eggs, milk or cream, 2 oz sugar, and vanilla in a bowl; mix well to make a custard and strain it.

  2. Divide 2 oz sugar and lemon juice between eight small plain dariol molds.

Make the caramel and steam

  1. Place the molds on the stove until the sugar caramelizes; then remove and let the caramel coat the inside of the molds.

  2. Pour the custard into the molds and steam for about 20 minutes until firm.

  3. For a large mold, steam for about 40 minutes.

Serve

  1. Turn out the puddings and serve hot or cold.

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 + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Vanilla + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,961 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

Eggs
Set the custard into a firm, sliceable structure as they cook.
Milk or cream
Provides the liquid base and moisture that makes the custard tender.
Sugar
Caramelizes to form the golden sauce that coats the molds and adds sweetness.
Vanilla or other flavoring
Adds aroma to the custard.

The step that matters

Caramelizing the sugar. Sugar moves from amber to burnt and bitter within moments, so the molds must be removed from heat as soon as the caramel turns golden. Heating too long gives a harsh flavor.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Figfits better
  2. Peachfits better
  3. Blueberryfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

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