Skip to main content
Dessert

Tipsy Parson Pudding

A layered custard pudding made with stale cake, jam, milk custard, and meringue, sometimes flavored with wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Tipsy Parson 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.

Assemble the base

  1. Layer thin slices of stale cake in a pudding dish and cover with jam.

  2. Stir 1 teaspoon of corn starch into 1½ cups of milk in a saucepan and cook for a few minutes until thickened.

  3. Remove from heat and stir in 2 beaten egg yolks and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Add vanilla to taste.

  4. Pour the custard over the cake and jam layers.

Top and bake

  1. Whip the egg whites with a little sugar until stiff peaks form, then spread over the top of the pudding.

  2. Brown the meringue lightly in a 350°F (175°C) oven.

  3. If desired, flavor with wine before serving.

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

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

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Corn + vanillatop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,943 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  4. Milk + corntop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  5. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 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

Stale cake
Forms the base layer and soaks up the custard as the pudding sets.
Milk
Forms the custard base that sets into a soft, creamy layer.
Egg yolks
Thicken the custard and add richness and structure as they set.
Egg whites
Whip into a foam that forms the light, browned meringue topping.
Corn starch
Thickens the milk so the custard holds its shape when cooled.
Jam
Adds fruity sweetness and moisture between the cake and custard.

The step that matters

Whipping the egg whites to stiff peaks. Egg whites must be whipped until stiff peaks form, because the foam traps air and gives the meringue its structure. Under-whipped whites will deflate and weep, and any trace of yolk or grease will stop them from whipping properly.

“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.

You might also like

Vanilla Ice CreamVanilla Ice Cream108 recipesCorn CakeCorn Cake90 recipesCorn Starch CakeCorn Starch Cake89 recipesCorn CakesCorn Cakes22 recipes