Bread Puddings

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. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together11,466 recipes

   Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

2. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together22,662 recipes

   Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together78,219 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

4. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together92,116 recipes

   Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

5. Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together19,053 recipes

   Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs

Set the custard when baked, and whipped whites give the topping its light, stable structure.

Bread crumbs

Soak up the milk and egg mixture, giving the pudding its body.

Milk

Forms the liquid base that the egg sets into a soft custard.

Flour

Helps thicken the custard so it holds together rather than running.

Sugar

Adds sweetness and helps the topping take on color in the oven.

Lemon

Adds acidity and fresh aroma to the whipped topping.

The step that matters

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, bread, milk, sugar, egg):

1. Vanillafits better
2. Raisinfits better
3. Figfits better
4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, bread, milk, sugar, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.