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Dessert

Queen of Puddings

A sweet custard-like pudding made with sugar, bread crumbs, eggs, butter, jam, milk, and vanilla or lemon flavoring.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

Queen of Puddings

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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare the base

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Rub the butter into the sugar until well combined.

  3. Beat the egg yolks until very light and stir them into the butter and sugar mixture.

  4. Soak the bread crumbs in the milk, then add to the mixture.

  5. Add the jam and flavoring, and mix until smooth.

Bake

  1. Pour the mixture into a baking dish and bake for about 30 minutes or until set.

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 + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  5. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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
Egg yolks set the custard, giving it structure as it bakes.
Bread crumbs
Soaked in milk, they absorb liquid and give the pudding body and a soft texture.
Milk
Provides the liquid that custards with the eggs and softens the bread crumbs.
White sugar
Adds sweetness and helps tenderise the custard texture.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, contributing to a smooth, tender texture.
Jam
Adds sweetness and fruity flavour through the custard.

The step that matters

Beating the egg yolks until very light. Thoroughly aerating the yolks and blending them evenly into the mixture helps produce a smooth, light custard. Under-mixed eggs can leave streaks or a dense layer, while the bake must stop once the custard sets to avoid curdling.

“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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