Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Lemon Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the lemon pudding
Boil 1 quart of water.
Mix in 2 tablespoons of cornstarch dissolved in a little water.
Add the juice and grated rind of 2 lemons and 1 cup of white sugar.
Stir until the mixture thickens.
Beat in the 3 egg whites until stiff and fold into the mixture.
Set aside to cool.
Serve
Serve with a thin custard made from the yolks of eggs flavored with vanilla.
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.
-
Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Lemon + vanillatop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,961 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
-
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the lemon mixture as it heats, giving the pudding its body.
- Egg whites
- Beaten until stiff, they add lightness and airy structure to the pudding.
- White sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and balances the sharpness of the lemon juice.
- Lemon juice and rind
- Provides the tart acidity and bright lemon aroma that define the dish.
The step that matters
Stir until the mixture thickens. Cornstarch must be heated while stirring to swell and gelatinize; stopping too early leaves the pudding thin, and it is cooked from the starch, not from the eggs.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, vanilla):
- Figfits better
- Blueberryfits better
- Peachfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against 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 lemon pudding recipes
You might also like
Lemon Cake228 recipes
Lemon Ice147 recipes
Vanilla Ice Cream108 recipes
Lemon Sherbet103 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.