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Dessert

Gelatine Pudding

A chilled custard dessert made with milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and gelatin.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and milk 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 ↓

Gelatine Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Bring the milk to a boil.

  2. In a bowl, beat the egg yolks with 2 tablespoons of sugar.

  3. Carefully stir the boiling milk into the egg yolks.

  4. Sweeten to taste.

  5. Place the mixture in a saucepan over boiling water.

  6. Stir until slightly thickened, but do not boil.

  7. Set aside to cool.

Prepare the gelatine

  1. Soak the gelatine in ½ cup of cold water for 2 hours.

  2. Pour the boiling water over the soaked gelatine.

  3. Stir until dissolved.

  4. Strain the gelatine.

  5. Set aside until cold and just about to set.

Combine and set

  1. When the custard is cold, beat the egg whites to a stiff froth.

  2. Combine the beaten egg whites with the gelatine.

  3. Add the mixture to the custard and beat well.

  4. Rinse a mold with cold water.

  5. Pour in the mixture and set aside to harden.

  6. Once set, turn out of the mold onto a plate.

  7. Serve very 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. Vanilla + milktop 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. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 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

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard as they set gently with heat, giving it body and richness.
Egg whites
Whipped to a stiff froth, they add lightness and airy texture to the pudding.
Gelatine
Sets the liquid mixture so the pudding holds its shape when turned out.
Milk
Forms the creamy base of the custard and adds richness and body.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and balances the flavour of the eggs and milk.

The step that matters

Stir until slightly thickened, but do not boil.. Egg yolks can scramble and curdle when overheated, so the custard should thicken gently over the hot water rather than boil.

“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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