Why it works: Lemon and wine are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,157 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Snow Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the jelly
Soak the gelatine in the cold water for 1 hour with a piece of lemon rind.
Pour the boiling water over the gelatine and stir until dissolved.
Add the sugar, lemon juice, and wine.
Stir until the sugar is melted.
Strain the mixture into a bowl.
Let it cool in a cool place.
Whip and set
Once cool, beat the egg whites to a stiff froth.
Fill a quart mold with cold water.
Let it stand while preparing the pudding.
When the jelly is slightly firm, beat it smooth.
Fold in the egg whites.
If it's summer, place the bowl in ice while beating.
Discard the cold water from the mold.
Fill it with the mixture.
Set it in a cold place to harden.
Serve
Once firm, turn it out.
Serve with whipped‑cream sauce or custard sauce.
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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Lemon + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,157 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + winetop 31% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together9,581 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable jelly that holds the snow-like foam.
- Egg whites
- Beaten to a stiff froth, they make the pudding light and airy.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and balances the tartness of the lemon.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness.
- Wine
- Adds flavour and a little acidity to the jelly.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. The jelly must be only slightly firm before beating. If it is too set, it will not blend smoothly with the whites, and if it is too liquid, the froth will deflate and the pudding will not hold its shape.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, wine):
- Vanillafits about as well
- Lemonthe original
- Applefits about as well
- Figfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, wine. 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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