Why it works: Bread and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,466 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓
How to Make a Tea-cup Bread-pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mixture
Bruise a piece of stale crumb of bread the size of an egg, in a basin.
Add four lumps of sugar and a very little grated nutmeg.
Pour half a gill of boiling milk upon these.
Stir all well together until the sugar is melted.
Then add an egg.
Beat up the whole thoroughly until well mixed.
Pour the mixture into a buttered tea-cup.
Boil and serve
Tie it up in a small cloth as directed in the preceding Number.
Boil the pudding for twenty minutes, at least.
As soon as done, turn it out on a plate.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Nutmeg | 1 tsp ground (2.2g) | 12 |
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.
-
Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
-
Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
-
Bread + nutmegtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,997 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,685 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Egg + nutmegtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together24,744 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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
- Stale bread crumb
- Soaks up the milk and egg to form the soft body of the pudding.
- Egg
- Binds the mixture and helps it set as it cooks.
- Milk
- Moistens the bread and dissolves the sugar, giving the pudding its wet, tender texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps it brown slightly when cooked.
The step that matters
Boil the pudding for twenty minutes, at least. The egg must cook through fully to set the custard-like body. Undercooking leaves the center wet and loose, so the cook should keep the pudding boiling for the full time before turning it out.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, egg, milk, sugar):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegthe original
- Gingerfits less well
- Allspicefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, egg, milk, sugar. 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.
You might also like
Bread Pudding153 recipes
Soft Ginger Bread85 recipes
Orange Potato Bread80 recipes
Brown Bread Pudding47 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.