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Dessert

Fruit Pudding

A fruit custard pudding topped with meringue, made with oranges, bananas, milk, sugar, eggs, and optional pineapple or coconut.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Banana and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,430 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Fruit Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fruit

  1. Combine the chopped oranges and bananas in a bowl.

Make the custard

  1. Whisk together the milk, sugar, egg yolks, cornstarch, salt, and vanilla in a saucepan.

  2. Cook over medium heat until thickened.

  3. Let the custard cool, then pour it over the fruit and mix gently.

Make the meringue and serve

  1. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form in a separate bowl.

  2. Gradually add 1 tablespoon of sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form.

  3. Spread the meringue over the fruit pudding in the serving dish.

  4. If desired, mix in pineapple or grated coconut.

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.

  1. Banana + vanillatop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  2. Banana + pineappletop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together733 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  3. Vanilla + pineappletop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together911 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

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

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

  5. Orange + pineappletop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,664 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard and add richness as they set with gentle heat.
Egg whites
Whip into a foam that forms the light, airy meringue topping.
Cornstarch
Thickens the milk mixture into a custard when cooked.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard.
Bananas
Add soft texture and natural sweetness to the fruit layer.
Oranges
Add acidity and fresh citrus flavour to the fruit layer.

The step that matters

Cool the custard before pouring it over the fruit. Pouring hot custard over soft fruit can cause it to break down and turn mushy, and heat can thin the custard's thickened texture. Letting it cool first helps it hold its set and keeps the fruit firm.

Swap the pineapple

The recipe marks pineapple as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (orange, banana, milk, sugar, egg, vanilla):

  1. Figfits about as well
  2. Peachfits about as well
  3. Strawberryfits about as well
  4. Pineapplethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against orange, banana, milk, sugar, egg, vanilla. 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.

More fruit pudding recipes

Steamed 91Boiled 17Cold 14English 14Baked 12Tapioca 11 See all 210 →

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