Name: Chocolate Bread Pudding
Ingredients: 2 cups stale bread crumbs; 4 cups scalded milk; 2 squares Baker's chocolate; 2 tablespoons melted butter; 1 cup sugar; 2 eggs; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon vanilla

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

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Soak the bread crumbs in the scalded milk for 10 minutes.
Add the melted chocolate, salt, sugar, vanilla, melted butter, and slightly beaten eggs.
Pour the mixture into a buttered pudding dish.

Bake and serve

Poach in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 1 hour.
Serve with whipped cream.

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.

Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,187 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,020 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together35,032 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

Eggs: Set the custard and bind the bread and milk into a sliceable pudding.
Stale bread crumbs: Absorb the milk and provide the body that the custard sets within.
Milk: Hydrates the bread and forms the custard base that the eggs set.
Baker's chocolate: Supplies the chocolate flavor and some richness to the pudding.
Butter: Adds fat for richness and a smoother, softer texture.
Sugar: Sweetens the pudding and helps balance the chocolate's bitterness.

The step that matters

Poach in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 1 hour. Gentle oven heat lets the egg custard set evenly without curdling or becoming rubbery. Baking too hot can overcook the eggs and leave the centre watery, so the pudding should be firm at the edges and only just set in the middle.

“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.