Name: Very Nice Pudding
Ingredients: one half pints milk; one half pint bread crumbs; one pint milk; two ounces butter; one half pint cream; one fourth pound currants; eight eggs; eight large spoonfuls of flour; six eggs; nutmeg

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 ↓

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.

Bread + buttertop 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).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,466 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs: Whites trap air for a light, risen texture, and yolks add richness and set the custard.
Flour: Gives the batter body so it holds its structure while baking.
Milk: Provides the liquid that hydrates the flour and bread crumbs and softens the texture.
Bread crumbs: Soak up the hot milk and help give the pudding a soft, tender body.
Butter: Adds fat for richness and a smooth, tender crumb.
Cream: Adds fat and richness, making the pudding softer and more luxurious.

The step that matters

Folding in the stiff egg whites. Whites hold air only while whipped; stirring them gently keeps that air in the mixture so the pudding rises and stays light rather than deflating into a dense result.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, bread, butter, cream, egg, flour, nutmeg):

Vanillafits better
Raisinfits better
Figfits better
Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, bread, butter, cream, egg, flour, nutmeg. 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.

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
Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12

Very Nice Pudding