Why it works: Currant and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,475 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, pear. The science ↓
Sippet Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Assemble
Cut a loaf of bread as thin as possible.
Put a layer of the bread in the bottom of a deep dish.
Strew slices of marrow or butter, with a handful of currants or stoned raisins.
Repeat until the dish is full.
Let the currants or raisins be at the top.
Make the custard
Beat four eggs.
Mix the eggs with a quart of milk that has been boiled a little and become cold, a quarter of a pound of sugar, and grated nutmeg.
Pour the mixture into the dish.
Bake and serve
Bake it in a moderate oven.
Eat it with wine sauce.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Grape | 1/2 cup (76g) | 62 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
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.
-
Currant + milktop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,475 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
-
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Currant + eggtop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,734 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Bind the custard and help it set into a soft, sliceable pudding when baked.
- Milk
- Moistens the bread and forms the custard that soaks through it.
- Bread (in the method)
- Forms the body of the pudding, soaking up the custard as it bakes.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the custard brown lightly at the surface.
The step that matters
Let the milk cool before mixing with the eggs. The record says the boiled milk must become cold before mixing. Adding hot milk to beaten eggs can start to cook them unevenly, leaving a grainy custard instead of a smooth set.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, 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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