Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Royal 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.
Make the custard
Heat the milk in a double boiler until just before boiling.
Stir in the sago and cook until thickened, about 30 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add the butter, sugar, and salt.
Let the mixture cool.
Once cool, mix in the beaten egg yolks and wine.
Bake and top
Pour the mixture into a buttered pudding dish.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.
Allow the pudding to cool.
Spread the raspberry jam on top.
Beat the egg whites until stiff and mix in 4 tablespoons powdered sugar.
Spread the meringue over the pudding.
Brown the meringue quickly before serving.
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 + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Milk + raspberrytop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,014 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Raspberry + winetop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together303 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + raspberrytop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,308 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that thickens into a creamy custard.
- Sago
- Swells and thickens with heat to give the pudding its body.
- Eggs
- Egg yolks enrich and set the custard; whites whipped into meringue give lift and a crisp top.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smooth, tender texture.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the custard and helps the meringue brown.
- Raspberry jam
- Adds fruity sweetness and acidity beneath the meringue.
The step that matters
Let the sago cook until fully thickened. Sago must be cooked until its starch has swelled and thickened the milk; if it is underdone, the pudding stays grainy and loose once baked and cooled.
Swap the raspberry
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, butter, sugar, egg, wine):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Applefits about as well
- Raspberrythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, 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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