Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Bread Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
Combine the beaten egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and beat the mixture again.
Make the custard
Add the milk, bread crumbs, and butter; mix well.
Stir in coconut, raisins, nutmeg, or flavoring extract if desired.
Pour the mixture into a baking dish.
Bake and top
Bake for 30 minutes or until brown on top.
Spread with fruit jelly or conserve if using.
Top with the beaten egg whites.
Return to the oven until browned.
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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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Milk + coconuttop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,648 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Butter + coconuttop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,467 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and help bind the custard as they set when baked.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that soaks the bread and sets into a soft custard.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb the liquid and give the pudding its body and structure.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and helps the top brown during baking.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a foam that bakes into a light, browned topping.
The step that matters
Returning the egg whites to the oven. Beaten whites are a foam that can deflate or weep if overbaked, so they need only enough time in the oven to brown lightly while the custard underneath stays soft and set.
Swap the coconut
The recipe marks coconut as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, milk, bread, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Peachfits about as well
- Coconutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, milk, bread, butter. 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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