Name: Bread Pudding
Ingredients: one-half cups sour milk over crumbs; one-fourth cup butter; two cups dark brown sugar; one cup raisins; one teaspoon cinnamon; three heaping cups dry bread crumbs; two eggs

Why it works: Raisin and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,390 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Bread Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

Combine three heaping cups dry bread crumbs, one and one-half cups sour milk, a level teaspoonful of soda, two eggs, one-fourth cup butter, two cups dark brown sugar, one cup raisins, and one teaspoon cinnamon.

Bake and serve

Bake for half an hour.
Serve with hard sauce.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

901Calories

28 gProtein

26 gFat

138 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Sour 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
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By United Methodist Church (Grayville, Ill.). 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. See the original page.

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.

Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,390 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,655 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30,779 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and cinnamon 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

Bread crumbs: Provides the body of the pudding and soaks up the liquid.
Eggs: Bind the mixture and help it set as it bakes.
Sour milk: Adds moisture and acidity that reacts with the soda.
Soda (in the method): Reacts with the sour milk's acid to lighten the pudding.
Dark brown sugar: Adds sweetness, moisture and a deep caramel flavor.
Butter: Adds fat for richness and a tender crumb.

Swap the raisin

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

Vanillafits better
Figfits about as well
Raisinthe original
Applefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, sugar, cinnamon, 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.