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Dessert

Cream Puddings

A custard-like pudding made with cream, eggs, almonds, mace, nutmeg, and flavored with orange flower or rose water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,115 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Cream Puddings

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the custard base

  1. Boil the cream with mace and grated nutmeg.

  2. Let it cool.

  3. Beat the yolks and whites of the eggs.

  4. Strain the beaten eggs.

  5. Mix the flour with the egg mixture.

  6. Add the beaten almonds and orange-flower or rose water.

  7. Gradually mix in the cooled cream.

  8. Stir well.

Boil and serve

  1. Wet a thick cloth.

  2. Pour the mixture into the cloth.

  3. Tie the cloth closed.

  4. Boil for 30 minutes.

  5. Ensure the water boils fast during cooking.

  6. Turn the pudding out onto a dish.

  7. Pour melted butter and a little wine over it.

  8. Sprinkle with grated sugar.

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. Nutmeg + almondtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,115 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Almond + orangetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,125 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks and whites
Set the pudding into a firm, sliceable body as they cook.
Cream
Adds richness and moisture, giving the pudding a soft, tender texture.
Flour
Thickens the egg mixture so it holds its shape when boiled.
Almonds
Contribute body, nutty flavour and a fine, slightly rich texture.

The step that matters

Keep the water boiling fast. A vigorous boil keeps the cloth-wrapped custard cooking evenly and holds its shape. If the water drops to a simmer, the pudding cooks slowly and can turn heavy or watery inside.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, nutmeg, egg, flour, almond, orange, butter):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, nutmeg, egg, flour, almond, orange, butter. 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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