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 ↓
Lemon Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the pudding
Combine one pint of fine bread crumbs with a quart of rich milk, one cup of sugar, the yolks of four eggs well beaten, a piece of butter the size of an egg, and the grated rind of one lemon.
Bake until done but not watery.
Top and brown
Whip the whites until stiff, add a cup of sugar and the juice of the lemon.
Spread over the top of the pudding and brown lightly in the oven.
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
- Fine bread crumbs
- Absorb the milk and give the pudding its body as they soften and set.
- Rich milk
- Provides the liquid that bakes into a soft, custard-like base.
- Eggs
- Yolks help set the pudding, while whites whipped into a meringue form the topping.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps the meringue topping become stiff and glossy.
- Lemon
- Rind adds aroma to the pudding and juice adds acidity to the topping.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, giving the pudding a softer, more tender texture.
The step that matters
Spread over the top of the pudding and brown lightly in the oven.. Meringue made from whipped whites can weep or over-brown quickly. Spreading it fully to the edges and watching it closely keeps the topping even and lightly golden.
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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