Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Chocolate Bread Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the custard
Soak bread in milk for thirty minutes.
Melt chocolate in a saucepan placed over hot water.
Add one-half sugar and enough milk taken from bread and milk to make a consistency to pour.
Add the mixture to the remaining sugar, salt, vanilla, and slightly beaten eggs.
Turn into a buttered pudding dish.
Bake and serve
Bake for one hour in a moderate oven.
Serve with Hard or Cream Sauce I.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Chocolate | 1 oz (28g) semisweet | 155 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Vanilla | 1 tsp extract (4ml) | 12 |
| Salt | 1 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.
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.
-
Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
-
Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,020 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
-
Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Bread + milktop 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).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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 crumbs
- Form the body of the pudding and soak up the milk and chocolate mixture.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and set during baking to give the pudding its structure.
- Milk
- Hydrates the bread and forms the liquid base of the custard.
- Chocolate
- Provides the chocolate flavor and richness throughout the pudding.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps balance the bitterness of the chocolate.
The step that matters
Add the mixture to the remaining sugar, salt, vanilla, and slightly beaten eggs.. Eggs should be only slightly beaten and the chocolate mixture should be cooled slightly before adding, so the eggs do not scramble and the custard sets smoothly in the oven.
“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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