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 Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
Make the pudding
Beat the egg yolks and sugar together until well combined.
Add the milk, bread crumbs, and butter; mix well.
Stir in coconut, raisins, nutmeg, or flavoring extract if desired.
Pour the mixture into a baking dish and bake for 30 minutes or until the top is brown.
Spread fruit jelly or conserve on top if using.
Top and finish
Beat the egg whites until stiff, then sweeten and flavor them.
Spread the beaten egg whites over the pudding and return to the oven until browned.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Milk + coconuttop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,648 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Butter + coconuttop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,467 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
- Enrich the custard base and help it set into a tender, creamy texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and the meringue topping.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that softens the bread and forms the custard.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb the milk and egg, giving the pudding its body.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a meringue that bakes to a light, browned topping.
The step that matters
Spreading the beaten egg whites over the pudding. Egg whites beaten until stiff hold their shape and brown in the oven; if they are under-beaten they weep and sink into the custard, and if the meringue is not fully spread to the edges it can shrink or brown unevenly.
Swap the coconut
The recipe marks coconut as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, milk, bread, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Peachfits about as well
- Coconutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, milk, bread, 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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