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Dessert

Vermicelli Pudding

A sweet pudding made from milk, vermicelli, lemon rind, cinnamon, sugar, butter, cream, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,950 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Vermicelli Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the milk base

  1. Boil the milk with the lemon rind and cinnamon for 15 minutes.

  2. Strain the milk and return it to the heat.

  3. Add the vermicelli and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

  4. Remove the mixture from heat and stir in the butter and cream.

Bake

  1. Beat the egg yolks and egg whites separately.

  2. Mix the beaten eggs quickly into the warm mixture.

  3. Pour the mixture into a buttered dish.

  4. Bake at 300°F (150°C) for 45 minutes.

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. Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

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

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Enrich the custard and help it set into a tender, rich texture as they cook.
Egg whites
Whipped separately and folded in, they add lightness and help the pudding rise and set.
Vermicelli
Provides the body of the pudding, absorbing milk and giving it a soft, starchy structure.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that cooks with the vermicelli and sets into the custard.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, soft mouthfeel.
Sugar
Provides sweetness and helps tenderise the custard.

The step that matters

Mix the beaten eggs quickly into the warm mixture. If the mixture is too hot, the egg proteins can scramble instead of blending smoothly. Adding them quickly and stirring well keeps the custard smooth before baking sets it.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Raisinfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

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