Why it works: Coconut and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,294 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Bread 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.
Prepare the custard
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Beat the yolks of the eggs in a baking dish.
Add sugar, milk, coconut, bread crumbs, butter, and vanilla extract. Mix well.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Top and serve
Beat the egg whites until stiff and spread over the pudding.
Return to the oven and brown the top.
Serve with cream or any desired sauce.
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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Coconut + vanillatop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,294 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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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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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
- Eggs
- Egg yolks thicken the custard and give the pudding its rich structure as they set.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that the bread soaks up and that sets into a tender custard.
- Rolled bread crumbs
- Absorb the liquid and form the body of the pudding.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the top brown in the oven.
The step that matters
Spreading and browning the egg white topping. Egg whites must be beaten until stiff so they hold their shape and form a stable, airy layer. Limp whites spread unevenly and can weep or brown unevenly in the oven.
Swap the coconut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, milk, bread, butter, vanilla):
- Figfits better
- Peachfits about as well
- Coconutthe original
- Apricotfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, milk, bread, butter, vanilla. 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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