Why it works: Butter and bread match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 27,145 recipes mention both. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
The recipe
70 dessertsIngredients
Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Prepare the batter
Soak one loaf of bread in 3 cups of milk, then rub through a colander.
Add 3 eggs to the soaked bread mixture.
Stir in 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1 teacup of light-brown sugar (or white if desired).
Mix well and add 1 level teaspoon of soda dissolved in water.
Steam and finish
Steam in baking powder cans for 3 hours.
Stir in 1 teaspoon of nutmeg, 1 piece of butter the size of an egg, 1 scant teaspoon of cloves, 1 scant teaspoon of allspice, and 1 teacup of currants and raisins mixed.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Butter + breadtop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together27,145 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together14,027 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together8,368 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Milk + buttertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together81,222 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Bread
- Soaked in milk and rubbed through a colander, it forms the moist body of the pudding.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and help it set as it steams.
- Milk
- Softens the bread and adds moisture to the batter.
- Light-brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and a molasses-like flavour.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a tender crumb.
- Currants
- Add sweetness and chewy fruit pieces throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Steam in baking powder cans for 3 hours. Steaming cooks the pudding gently with moist heat, so it sets without drying out. The cans must be kept sealed and the water must keep simmering for the full 3 hours, or the pudding will turn dense or dry.
Flavor stand-ins for the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, butter, bread, egg, sugar):
- Clovethe original
- Cardamomabout as good a flavor fit
- Allspiceabout as good a flavor fit
- Maceabout as good a flavor fit
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, butter, bread, egg, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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