Why it works: Milk and corn are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,955 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓
Orange Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Boil 1 pint of sweet milk.
While boiling, add 3 egg yolks, 1 tablespoon corn starch, and 1 cup sugar mixed with a little cold milk.
Stir constantly until thick, then pour over the cut oranges.
Top and serve
Beat 3 egg whites until very stiff, then mix in 2 tablespoons sugar.
Spread the egg white mixture over the pudding and place in the oven to brown.
Serve cold.
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 + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Orange + corntop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together586 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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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).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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 flavor and juicy base beneath the custard.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard and add richness and a smooth texture.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the milk mixture so the custard sets firm when stirred.
- Egg whites
- Whip into a stiff foam that forms a light topping which browns in the oven.
- Sweet milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard that the yolks and starch thicken.
The step that matters
Stirring the custard until thick. Egg yolks and corn starch thicken only as the mixture heats, and stirring constantly keeps the milk from scorching or forming lumps while it thickens evenly.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, egg, corn, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, corn, sugar. 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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