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Dessert

Bread Pudding

A custard-like pudding made from stale bread, milk, butter, sugar, eggs, nutmeg, lemon peel, and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Randolph (1762–1828) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Bread Pudding

Why it works: Nutmeg and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,318 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Bread Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Soak the crumb

  1. Grate the crumb of a stale loaf.

  2. Pour a pint of boiling milk over the crumb and let stand for an hour.

  3. Beat the mixture to a pulp.

Make the mixture

  1. Add six eggs, well beaten.

  2. Add half a pound of butter.

  3. Add half a pound of powdered sugar.

  4. Add half a nutmeg.

  5. Add a glass of brandy.

  6. Add some grated lemon peel.

  7. Put the mixture in a dish.

  8. Bake the pudding.

Enrich and bake

  1. Beat six eggs very light.

  2. Sift a pound of loaf sugar powdered into the eggs.

  3. Sift a light pound of flour into the eggs.

  4. Add half a grated nutmeg.

  5. Add a glass of brandy.

  6. Beat all together very well.

  7. Add a pint of cream.

  8. Pour the mixture into a deep dish.

  9. Bake the pudding.

  10. When done, sift some powdered sugar over it.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

453Calories
15 gProtein
31 gFat
31 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Lemonjuice 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.

By Mary Randolph (1762–1828). Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

  1. Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the pudding and set into a custard as they cook, giving structure.
Stale loaf crumb
Forms the body of the pudding, soaking up the milk to become soft and tender.
Milk
Softens the crumb and adds moisture that becomes part of the custard.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a tender, smooth texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the pudding and helps it brown on the surface.
Cream
Adds richness and moisture, making the custard silkier.

The step that matters

Bake the pudding. The eggs set into a custard as they heat. Baking too long or too hot can curdle and dry the pudding, so it should be removed once just set.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Coconutfits about as well
  3. Figfits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, sugar, cream, egg, 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.

More bread pudding recipes

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