Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Bread and Butter Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the custard
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a saucepan, boil the milk with bay leaves and cinnamon.
Whisk the eggs until frothy, then add sugar to sweeten.
Pour the boiling milk into the egg mixture and whisk well.
Let the mixture cool.
Assemble
In a deep dish, layer slices of buttered bread and sprinkle with currants.
Pour enough custard to cover the bread, then repeat the layers until the dish is full.
Let it sit for about an hour to soak up the custard.
Top with remaining custard and sprinkle a few currants on top.
If desired, add a border of puff pastry around the dish.
Bake
Bake until the custard sets.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Cinnamon + curranttop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,099 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Butter + cinnamontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,784 recipes
Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).
Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- French roll
- Forms the structure and soaks up the custard as it sits.
- Eggs
- Set the custard as they cook, giving it a firm, sliceable texture.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard, providing moisture and richness.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness to the bread layers and helps them brown.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to the custard, balancing the eggs and milk.
The step that matters
Bake until the custard sets. Eggs set as they heat, so stopping at the right point keeps the custard smooth and tender. Overbaking makes the eggs tighten and turn rubbery or curdled.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, milk, cinnamon, egg, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, milk, cinnamon, 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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