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 ↓
Rolled Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Roll out the pastry or suet crust thinly.
Spread the fruit jam evenly over the pastry, leaving a 1-inch border.
In a bowl, mix the brown sugar with the grated lemon rind and juice. Sprinkle the sugar mixture over the jam.
Roll and boil
Roll the pastry tightly and pinch the ends to seal.
Wrap the pudding in a cloth and secure the ends.
Boil the pudding for 1 to 2 hours, depending on size and ingredients.
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.
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Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,634 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar and lemon 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
- Pastry or suet crust
- Forms the outer wrapper that holds the filling and steams into a tender roll.
- Fruit jam
- Provides sweetness, fruit flavour and moisture that soaks into the pastry as it cooks.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and a molasses-like depth that melts into the jam filling.
- Lemon rind and juice
- Adds bright acidity and aroma that cut through the sweetness of the jam and sugar.
The step that matters
Rolling and wrapping the pudding. A loose roll or unsealed ends let boiling water seep in and the filling leak out, leaving a soggy, misshapen pudding. Rolling tightly and securing the cloth keeps the filling contained while the dough steams evenly.
“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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