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Bread and Cheese Savoury

A savory bread pudding made with wholemeal bread, cheese, custard, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By T. R. Allinson · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,015 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Bread and Cheese Savoury

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the bread into slices and butter them.

Assemble

  1. Arrange the sliced bread in layers in a pie dish, spreading some cheese between the layers, and dusting with pepper, salt, and a little nutmeg.

  2. Finish with a good sprinkling of cheese.

Make and pour the custard

  1. Whip up the eggs, mix them with the milk.

  2. Pour the custard mixture over the bread and cheese in the pie dish.

  3. Pour the custard back into the basin, and repeat the pouring over the contents of the pie dish.

  4. If this is done 2 or 3 times, the top slices of bread and butter get soaked and then bake better.

Bake

  1. Bake the savoury until brown, which it will be in about 3/4 of an hour.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

245Calories
15 gProtein
14 gFat
15 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By T. R. Allinson. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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.

  1. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,685 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Egg + nutmegtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together24,744 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  5. Milk + peppertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together26,984 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

Egg and nutmeg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 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, giving the pudding its firm, sliceable structure as they cook.
Milk
Forms the liquid custard that soaks the bread and keeps the pudding moist.
Bread (in the method)
Absorbs the custard and forms the body of the pudding.
Cheese (in the method)
Adds richness and savoury flavour, and melts and browns in the layers.

The step that matters

Soaking the top slices. Repeatedly pouring the custard back over the top layers lets the bread absorb liquid before baking. Dry top slices stay tough and bake unevenly, so the soaking helps the top cook through and brown well.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Nutmegthe original
  2. Parsleyfits about as well
  3. Cinnamonfits about as well
  4. Dillfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, pepper. 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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