Why it works: Milk and bread 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 ↓
Bread Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the pudding
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a bowl, combine half the milk with the bread crumbs and soak until soft.
Mash the soaked bread fine, then mix in the beaten eggs and sugar.
Pour the mixture into a baking dish and bake for 1 hour.
Frost and brown
For frosting, beat the egg whites with 2 tablespoons sugar until stiff.
Spread jelly, canned fruit, or berries over the pudding, then top with the frosting.
Return to the oven and brown the frosting.
Variation
For a 'Queen's pudding', add grated lemon rind to the pudding and lemon juice with more sugar to the frosting.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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 and, as whites, form the stiff topping that browns.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb the milk and give the pudding its soft, body-filled texture.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that softens the bread and moistens the custard.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the egg whites hold stiff peaks and brown.
The step that matters
Browning the frosting. Egg white and sugar brown quickly at high oven heat through caramelization and browning reactions, so the topping can scorch before it is evenly golden. Watch it closely during the short return to the oven.
Swap the lemon
The recipe marks lemon as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, bread, egg, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Datesfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, bread, egg, 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.
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