Name: Citron Pudding
Ingredients: 2 ounces citron, sliced; 2 ounces candied orange peel, sliced; 2 ounces candied lemon peel, sliced; 4 ounces loaf sugar; 4 ounces fresh butter; 4 egg yolks; 2 egg whites; fine puff pastry for lining the dish

Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Citron 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

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Slice the citron, candied orange peel, and candied lemon peel.
In a bowl, mix the sliced fruits with loaf sugar and fresh butter.
Line a shallow dish with fine puff pastry.
Beat the egg yolks and egg whites until frothy.

Bake

Pour the mixture into the lined dish.
Bake for 30 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.

Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,634 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,227 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

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

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

Egg yolks and whites: Set the filling into a custard-like texture as they cook and bind the fruit mixture.
Fresh butter: Adds richness and moisture, carrying flavour through the filling.
Loaf sugar: Adds sweetness and helps soften and balance the candied peels.
Candied citron and peels: Provide concentrated citrus flavour and chewy texture throughout the filling.