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 ↓
Marie Paidar
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Combine one cup of bread crumbs, two cups of milk, two eggs (reserve whites for topping), one tablespoon of butter rubbed in crumbs, one-half cup sugar, one teaspoon baking powder, grated rind and juice of half a lemon.
Mix well, adding more milk if necessary to make a soft batter.
Bake and top
Bake until set and brown.
Cover with beaten whites sweetened with four tablespoons of sugar, return to oven to brown.
Serve with sauce
Serve with sauce: juice of one lemon with a little water, one-half cup sugar, one &gg, mix well and boil a few minutes, then add a little wine to flavor.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Lemon | juice of 1 lemon (48ml) | 12 |
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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Bread + buttertop 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).
-
Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
-
Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
-
Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Eggs
- Set the custard structure and add richness; whites are beaten for the meringue-style topping.
- Bread crumbs
- Form the body of the pudding and soak up the milk to make a soft batter.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that moistens the crumbs and forms the custard base.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the whites hold a stable, browned topping.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, tenderizing the crumb.
The step that matters
Cover with beaten whites and return to oven to brown. Egg whites beaten with sugar form a foam that can weep or deflate if under-whipped or left too long in the heat. Brown it just until golden, because the topping sets and colours quickly.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, milk, butter, sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Peachfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, milk, butter, sugar, 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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