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Dessert

Bedford Pudding

A bread pudding made with soaked bread, eggs, milk, sugar, lemon peel, baked, topped with jam and whipped egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 ↓

Bedford Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the bread base

  1. Soak the bread in cold water until soft.

  2. Squeeze out all the water using a cloth.

  3. Place the soaked bread in a bowl.

  4. Beat the bread smooth with a spoon.

  5. Beat in the egg yolks, sugar, milk, and a little grated lemon peel.

  6. Pour the mixture into a pie dish.

  7. Bake at 350°F (175°C) until firm.

Top and finish

  1. Remove from the oven.

  2. Spread jam on top.

  3. Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks.

  4. Spread the whipped egg whites over the jam.

  5. Return to the oven for a few minutes until browned.

  6. Sprinkle with sugar.

  7. Serve hot or cold.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  2. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  3. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 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

Dry crusts of bread
Form the soft base that holds the custard when soaked and beaten smooth.
Eggs
Egg yolks set the custard, and whipped whites form a light topping that browns.
Milk
Adds moisture and softness to the custard base as it bakes.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and adds a crisp sugared finish on top.
Jam
Adds a fruity sweetness and acidity between the custard and the meringue layer.

The step that matters

Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks. Whites that are under-whipped or deflated will not hold their shape and can weep or sink into the jam, while well-whipped whites form a stable, airy topping that browns evenly 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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