Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 27,232 recipes mention both. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Queen of Puddings
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 custard
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Rub the butter into ¾ cup of sugar and cream together with the yolks until light.
Soak the bread crumbs in the milk, then mix with the creamed mixture and add lemon rind.
Pour the mixture into a large buttered dish, filling it two-thirds full, and bake until set.
Top and finish
Spread a layer of jelly or jam over the top.
Beat the egg whites until stiff, then gradually add ½ cup sugar and spread over the jam.
Return to the oven and bake until the meringue begins to brown.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
-
Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
-
Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
-
Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Bread crumbs
- Soak up the milk to form the body of the baked custard.
- Milk
- Provides liquid that sets with the eggs to form a soft custard.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the custard and help it set when baked.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into stiff peaks to form the light, browned meringue topping.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and helps the meringue stay glossy and stable.
- Jelly or jam
- Adds a fruity layer of sweetness and acidity between custard and meringue.
The step that matters
Beating the egg whites until stiff. Whites must form firm peaks before sugar is added gradually; underbeaten or greasy whites will not hold their shape, and the meringue may weep or fail to brown evenly.
Flavor stand-ins for the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, milk, sugar, egg, butter):
- Vanillabetter flavor fit
- Figbetter flavor fit
- Peachabout as good a flavor fit
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, milk, sugar, egg, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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.
You might also like
Lemon Cake228 recipes
Bread Pudding153 recipes
Lemon Ice147 recipes
Lemon Sherbet103 recipesThe Sunday pairing: one pairing, the chemistry behind it, and how to cook it. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account for sign-in; Pro adds the full results and chemistry.