Why it works: Butter and bread 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 ↓
Chocolate Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Scald the milk and chocolate together.
When cool, add sugar and eggs, and bake.
Or, boil one pint milk, add half cup butter, one cup sugar, and three ounces grated chocolate; pour this over two slices of bread soaked in water.
When cool, add the well-beaten yolks of four eggs, bake.
Top and brown
When done, put beaten egg whites and five tablespoons sugar on top, and set in oven to brown.
When done, spread over the whites beaten with sugar, and brown in oven.
Serve hot or cold.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 6 of 7 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Chocolate | 1 oz (28g) semisweet | 155 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
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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Butter + breadtop 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).
-
Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
-
Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Milk + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,128 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Yolks thicken the custard as they set, and beaten whites form a light meringue topping that browns.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard, carrying the sugar and chocolate.
- Chocolate
- Provides the chocolate flavour and richness of the pudding.
- Bread
- Soaked slices add body and soften into the custard as it bakes.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smoother, softer texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps the meringue topping brown in the oven.
The step that matters
Adding the yolks after the mixture cools. Egg yolks scrambled by hot liquid turn grainy instead of smooth, so the mixture should be cool before the eggs go in.
“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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