Why it works: Milk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Orange 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 oranges
Grate the rind and slice the oranges.
Sprinkle the oranges with ¼ cup sugar.
Make the custard
In a basin over boiling water, heat 1 pint of milk.
In a bowl, stir together 2 egg yolks, ½ cup sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, and a little cold milk.
When the milk boils, stir in the egg mixture and let it thicken.
Pour the thickened mixture over the oranges.
Top and brown
Beat the 2 egg whites with a little sugar until frothy.
Spread the egg white mixture on top and brown in the oven at 350°F (175°C).
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 + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Orange + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,696 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Oranges
- Provide the fruit flavour and juice that sit beneath the pudding.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the milk mixture into a smooth, sliceable custard.
- Flour
- Helps stabilise the custard so it thickens without splitting.
- Egg whites
- Whip into a light foam that bakes to a golden, set topping.
- Milk
- Forms the body of the custard and carries the sweetness.
The step that matters
Letting the custard thicken over the heat. Egg yolks and flour thicken the milk only when it is hot enough and stirred steadily; if it is not stirred, lumps or curdling can form, and an under-cooked custard stays runny.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, milk, egg, flour):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, egg, flour. 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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