Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Bread and Apple Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure. The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare the pudding
Soak the stale bread in water until soft, then remove the crusts.
Layer the soaked bread in a pudding dish and add butter pieces.
Add a layer of stewed apples and sprinkle with raisins.
Repeat the layers of bread, apples, and raisins.
Top and bake
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 10 minutes.
Top with a meringue made from beaten egg whites and sugar.
Reduce the oven temperature and bake until the meringue is brown.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Apple + raisintop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,920 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Bread + appletop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,790 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Stale bread
- Soaked bread forms the soft, absorbent body of the pudding.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, carrying flavour through the layers.
- Stewed apples
- Provide moisture and fruity sweetness between the bread layers.
- Egg whites
- Beaten with sugar to form a meringue that sets and browns on top.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the meringue and helps it brown in the oven.
The step that matters
Reducing the oven temperature for the meringue. Meringue sets and browns quickly at high heat and can scorch or weep. Lowering the temperature lets it dry and colour gently while the pudding heats through.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, butter, raisin, egg, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Datesfits about as well
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, butter, raisin, 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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