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Preserve

Cornstarch Pudding

A sweet pudding made from cornstarch, milk, eggs, sugar, and vanilla or lemon, set in a mold.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Cornstarch Pudding

Why it works: Milk and vanilla 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 ↓

Cornstarch Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the pudding

  1. Mix the cornstarch with a little milk until smooth.

  2. Add the mixture to the quart of milk and beat well.

  3. Stir in the well-beaten eggs.

  4. Bring to a boil, then gradually stir in the sugar.

  5. Flavor with vanilla or lemon.

Set and serve

  1. Pour into a mold and let it cool.

  2. Serve with custard sauce.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Vanilla + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

Cornstarch
Thickens the milk into a smooth, sliceable pudding as it cooks and sets.
Eggs
Add richness and help set the pudding with their proteins once beaten in.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the cornstarch thickens and the eggs enrich.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and softens the flavor of the thickened milk.

The step that matters

Bring to a boil before adding the sugar. Cornstarch only thickens fully once the mixture reaches a boil, so the pudding must be brought to a boil to set properly. Stirring constantly prevents lumps and scorching on the bottom of the pan.

“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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