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 ↓
Qiieex of Piddixos
Ingredients
Directions
Make the pudding
In a bowl, combine one pint of bread crumbs, one quart of sweet milk, one cup of sugar, the yolks of four eggs, the rind of a fresh lemon, grated rind, and a piece of butter the size of a hen Q^g.
Bake the mixture until done.
Make the meringue
Beat the four egg whites to a stiff froth, adding one teacupful of sugar, and stir in the juice of one lemon.
Finish and serve
When the pudding is baked, spread a layer of acid jelly over it, then spread the meringue on top.
Set the pudding in the oven to brown slightly.
Serve with cold cream.
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
- Bread crumbs
- Provide the body of the pudding and absorb the milk to form a soft crumb.
- Milk
- Supplies the liquid that the eggs set into a custard as the pudding bakes.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken and enrich the custard as they set during baking.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to a stiff froth, they form the airy structure of the meringue topping.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps stabilize the whipped egg white foam.
- Lemon
- Adds bright acidity and aroma that cut the sweetness of the pudding and meringue.
The step that matters
Browning the meringue. Egg whites beaten with sugar form a foam that browns quickly in the oven. Brief baking sets and colors the surface, while overbaking makes the meringue tough and causes weeping, where liquid beads up on the surface.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, milk, sugar, butter, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Peachfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, milk, sugar, butter, 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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