Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 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).
Separate the eggs.
Beat the yolks with ¾ cup of sugar and the milk.
Crumble the roll finely and stir it into the yolk and milk mixture.
Add vanilla extract to taste.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Top and brown
Beat the egg whites until stiff, adding the remaining sugar and a little vanilla extract.
Spread the beaten egg whites over the baked mixture and return to the oven until nicely 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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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Yolks enrich and set the custard, while beaten whites form the light, browned meringue topping.
- Milk
- Provides liquid that moistens the roll and helps the custard set softly when baked.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and meringue, and helps the whites stay stable when beaten.
- Roll
- Soaks up the egg and milk mixture, giving the pudding its bread-based body.
The step that matters
Beating the egg whites until stiff. Whites must be beaten until they hold firm peaks, because the air trapped in them makes the topping light. Under-beaten whites will collapse and weep, while over-beaten whites turn dry and grainy.
“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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