Why it works: Nutmeg and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,318 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Sweetmeat 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.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Beat the yolks of 20 eggs with the whites of 3 eggs.
Mix 1 pound of softened butter and 1 pound of sugar together, then stir in the egg mixture and add the grated nutmeg.
Make and bake the pudding
Line a pudding dish with rich pastry and cover it with quince or peach preserves.
Pour the egg mixture over the preserves and bake until nearly done.
Top and finish
Beat the whites of 8 eggs to a stiff froth, then add 2 tablespoons of fine sugar and a little lemon extract.
Remove the pudding from the oven, cover it with the egg white mixture, and return it to the oven until light brown.
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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Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Nutmeg + quincetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together118 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
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Quince + lemontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together336 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together24,377 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the custard filling, giving it richness and help in setting when baked.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, giving the filling a tender, smooth texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps the egg mixture brown lightly in the oven.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to a stiff froth, they form a light topping that puffs and browns.
- Quince or peach preserves
- Provide fruit sweetness and acidity beneath the custard layer.
The step that matters
Baking the custard until nearly done. Eggs set as they heat, so the filling should be removed before it is fully firm. Overbaking makes it curdled and dry, while underbaking leaves it runny under the topping.
Swap the quince
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, sugar, nutmeg, lemon):
- Vanillafits better
- Orangefits better
- Figfits better
- Quincethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, sugar, nutmeg, lemon. 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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