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 ↓
Orange Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the mixture
Boil the milk with the rind of one orange, peeled very thinly.
Add the bread crumbs, egg yolks, and juice of both oranges.
Gently fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites.
Bake
Mix all lightly and bake for 20 minutes at 400°F (200°C).
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.
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).
-
Milk + orangetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,696 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
-
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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 add structure, with the whites trapping air for lift.
- Bread crumbs
- Soak up the liquid and give the pudding its body.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid base that sets into a soft, moist custard.
- Oranges
- Supply juice and rind for acidity and fragrant orange flavour.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and balances the citrus acidity.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Stiffly beaten whites hold air that helps the pudding rise. Stirring them in vigorously deflates the foam, so the fold should be gentle and stop as soon as the whites are evenly combined.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, milk, sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Datesfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, milk, sugar, egg. 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
The 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.
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Bread Pudding153 recipes
Orange Cream Rice Pudding121 recipes
Orange Gelatin100 recipes