Why it works: Biscuit and angelica share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 69 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Cabinet Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mold
Grease a mold with straight sides and decorate the bottom with strips of angelica and halved cherries.
Line the sides with narrow strips of stale sponge cake or Savoy biscuits.
Break the trimmings of the cake or 3 to 4 biscuits into small pieces and place them in the mold with the ratafia biscuits.
Make the custard
In a bowl, beat the egg yolks and whites, then add the sugar, vanilla, and milk. Stir until the sugar dissolves.
Slowly pour the custard mixture into the mold.
Steam
Cover the mold with buttered paper and steam gently for nearly 1 hour.
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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Biscuit + angelicatop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together69 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Vanilla + angelicatop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together170 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Biscuit + vanillatop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together422 recipes
Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).
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
- Eggs
- Set the custard as they cook, giving it a firm, sliceable structure.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard, providing moisture and a soft texture.
- Sponge cake or savoy biscuits
- Soak up the custard and hold the shape of the pudding within the mold.
- Ratafia biscuits
- Absorb custard and add a light, almond-like flavour and soft texture.
- Castor sugar
- Sweetens the custard and helps it blend smoothly into the milk and eggs.
The step that matters
Steam gently. Egg custard is protein-based and turns grainy, watery or rubbery if it boils or cooks too hard. Gentle steam heats it slowly so it sets evenly and stays smooth.
Swap the angelica
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, egg, biscuit, sugar, vanilla):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Angelicathe original
- Capersfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, biscuit, sugar, 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.
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