Why it works: Butter and bread 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 ↓
Hot Chocolate Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the pudding
Combine two ounces chocolate, one pint milk, one teacupful bread crumbs, two eggs, one-half teaspoonful salt, one-half cupful butter, melted; one cupful sugar, one-half cupful raisins, one-half cupful currants, and one-eighth of a nutmeg, grated.
Boil the chocolate, milk, and salt together until smooth, then pour over the crumbs; let stand one hour, then mash finely.
Beat the eggs lightly, then add them and the melted butter, followed by the fruit, spices, and sugar.
Grease a pan, pour in the mixture, and steam for one hour.
Serve
Serve with cream or a pudding sauce.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 8 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Chocolate | 1 oz (28g) semisweet | 155 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Grape | 1/2 cup (76g) | 62 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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. See the original page.
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 + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,180 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
-
Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
-
Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and help it set firm as it steams.
- Bread crumbs
- Soak up the hot milk and chocolate, giving the pudding body and a soft crumb.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture, carrying flavour through the pudding.
- Chocolate
- Provides the chocolate flavour and some richness to the pudding.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and contributes to its moist, tender texture.
The step that matters
Mash the soaked crumbs finely. Crumbs that are left in lumps stay dry and uneven, so the pudding steams with a patchy texture. Fully softened, finely mashed crumbs blend evenly with the custard-like mixture.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chocolate, milk, butter, sugar, raisin, bread, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against chocolate, milk, butter, sugar, raisin, bread, egg. 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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