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Dessert

Miss Sallie Carver

A baked bread pudding flavored with lemon, sweetened with sugar, and topped with whipped egg whites and jelly or fruit.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Keokuk (Iowa). Westminster Presbyterian church · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,466 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓

Miss Sallie Carver

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Combine one pint of fine bread crumbs, one quart of milk, one cup of sugar, beaten yolks of four eggs, grated rind of one lemon, and a piece of butter the size of an egg.

  2. Bake the mixture until done, but not watery.

Make the topping

  1. Whip the whites of the eggs stiff, beating them in a teacup of sugar that has been stirred with the juice of the lemon.

Assemble and brown

  1. Spread a layer of jelly or fruit on the pudding.

  2. Spread the whipped whites on top of the jelly or fruit.

  3. Brown the top nicely in the oven.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

743Calories
28 gProtein
15 gFat
124 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice 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.

By Keokuk (Iowa). Westminster Presbyterian church. 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.

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 + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

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

  3. Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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

Fine bread crumbs
Form the bulk of the pudding and soak up the milk and egg to set a soft body.
Milk
Provides the liquid that the eggs and crumbs set into a custard-like texture.
Eggs
Yolks enrich and set the custard, while beaten whites form a light, stable foam for the topping.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps stabilise the beaten egg whites.
Lemon
Rind adds aroma and juice adds brightness and acidity to the pudding and topping.
Butter (in the method)
Adds fat for richness and a tender texture.

The step that matters

Whipping the egg whites stiff. Egg whites must be beaten until they hold firm peaks, since the foam traps air and gives the topping its lift. Underbeaten whites stay runny and slide off the pudding, while overbeaten whites turn dry and grainy.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Datesfits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, milk, 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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