Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Delmonico 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.
Make the custard
Bring the milk to a boil.
Stir in the egg yolks, sugar, and dissolved cornstarch.
Boil the mixture well.
Pour the mixture into a pan.
Bake until thick at 350°F (175°C).
Top and serve
Top the pudding with meringue made from egg whites and sugar after it has cooled.
Bake the meringue until light brown.
Serve cold with rich cream.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard and add richness as they set with heat.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the milk mixture as it boils, giving the pudding body.
- Egg whites
- Whip into the meringue topping, which sets and browns in the oven.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and the meringue, and helps the meringue hold its structure.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard that thickens with heat.
The step that matters
Boil the mixture well. Cornstarch only reaches full thickening once it boils, and egg yolks need enough heat to set. Undercooked starch leaves the pudding thin and runny.
“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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