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Dessert

Zebra Pudding

A steamed or baked pudding made with bread crumbs, eggs, butter, sugar, marsala, and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Zebra 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.

Make the batter

  1. In a bowl, combine bread crumbs, eggs, butter, sugar, marsala, and nutmeg.

  2. Beat the mixture thoroughly until well combined.

  3. Pour the mixture into a buttered basin.

Cook and serve

  1. Steam for 30 minutes or bake in a pie dish at 350°F (175°C) for 45 minutes.

  2. Serve warm.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

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.

  1. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  3. Bread + nutmegtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,997 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Brandy + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,311 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Butter + brandytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,127 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Bread crumbs
Provide the bulk and body that hold the pudding together.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and set it into a firm, sliceable texture when cooked.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, softening the crumb as it cooks.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps give the top a light browning when baked.
Marsala
Adds moisture and a fortified wine aroma and flavour.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, egg, butter, sugar, brandy):

  1. Cinnamonfits about as well
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Clovefits less well
  4. Parsleyfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, egg, butter, sugar, brandy. 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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