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 ↓
Jelly 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.
Make the pudding
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, combine milk, bread crumbs, egg yolks, and sugar.
Pour the mixture into a baking dish and bake for about 30 minutes.
Top and finish
Once cool, spread jelly over the pudding.
Beat the egg whites with a little sugar until stiff peaks form.
Spread the beaten egg whites on top of the pudding.
Return the pudding to the oven for a few minutes until the top is set.
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.
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Milk + breadtop 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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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that softens the bread crumbs and sets into a custard with the eggs.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb the milk and give the pudding its body and soft crumb.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard as they set, giving a rich, tender texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps the stiff egg whites hold their structure.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a stiff meringue that forms a light topping and browns in the oven.
The step that matters
Beating the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Under-beaten whites stay runny and slump on the pudding, while over-beaten whites turn grainy and dry. Stiff, glossy peaks hold their shape and set 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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