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 and Butter Pudding
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 the bread
Butter each slice of bread.
Layer bread in a 1-quart mold or basin, sprinkling currants between layers until all ingredients are used.
Make the custard
In a bowl, beat eggs and sugar together until light.
Gradually add milk and grated nutmeg to the egg mixture.
Pour the mixture over the layered bread and currants.
Let it stand for 15 minutes.
Bake and serve
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.
Serve cold with cream sauce.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Bread + milktop 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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Bread + nutmegtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,997 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Set the custard, binding the milk and bread into a sliceable pudding as they cook.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid custard that soaks into the bread and gives the pudding its moist texture.
- Bread
- Forms the structure that soaks up the custard and holds the pudding together.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and helps it brown slightly during baking.
- Currants
- Add pockets of sweet, tart fruit flavour distributed through the layers.
The step that matters
Let it stand for 15 minutes. Standing lets the bread absorb the egg and milk mixture before baking. Dry spots left unsoaked stay dense and can bake unevenly, so the custard should reach the whole loaf.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, butter, egg, sugar, milk, nutmeg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, butter, egg, sugar, milk, nutmeg. 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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