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 ↓
Queen of Puddings
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Beat together 1 pint bread crumbs, 1 cup of sugar, the yolks of 4 beaten eggs, the grated rind of 1 lemon, a piece of butter the size of an egg, and 1 quart milk.
Put into a pudding dish and bake until done — not longer.
Top and brown
Spread over the pudding a layer of jelly or preserved damsons; make a meringue of the whites of the eggs and 1 cup granulated sugar, and the juice of 1 lemon.
Put this lightly over the pudding and brown in the oven.
Serve
Eat cold with 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
- Bulk that soaks up the milk and sets into a soft, tender body.
- Eggs
- Yolks set the custard, while whites whipped into meringue give a light, browned topping.
- Milk
- Liquid that forms the custard and keeps the pudding moist.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and, in the meringue, helps it stay glossy and stable.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, tender texture to the custard.
The step that matters
Bake until done, not longer. Overbaking causes egg proteins in the custard to tighten further, making it grainy, weeping and dry. Stop when the custard is just set in the centre.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, sugar, milk, butter, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Peachfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, sugar, milk, 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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