Why it works: Cream and sugar 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 ↓
Orange Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the pudding
Dissolve the cornstarch in a little of the cream.
In a double boiler, heat the remaining cream and sugar until boiling.
Add the dissolved cornstarch and cook until smooth.
Stir in the beaten egg whites and mix well.
Let the mixture cool.
Prepare the oranges
Sprinkle sliced oranges with sugar and let them stand for 30 minutes.
Assemble and serve
Pour the pudding mixture into a serving dish, then top with whipped cream and the sugared oranges just before serving.
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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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Cream + orangetop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,170 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Sugar and orange barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 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
- Cream
- Forms the rich base of the pudding and gives it a smooth, creamy texture.
- Egg whites
- Beaten in, they add structure and lightness to the set pudding.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the cream as it heats, giving the pudding body and a smooth set.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and draws juice from the oranges to form a syrup.
- Oranges
- Provide bright acidity and fresh flavour that balances the sweet pudding.
The step that matters
Add the dissolved cornstarch and cook until smooth. Cornstarch must be fully dispersed and heated to boiling to thicken. Adding it to hot liquid without first dissolving it in cold cream causes lumps, and undercooking leaves a raw starchy taste and weak set.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, egg, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Strawberryfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, egg, sugar. 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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