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 ↓
Almond 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.
Make the custard
Bring the cream to a boil.
Pour the hot cream over the bread crumbs and let them stand until nearly cold.
Mix in the sweet and bitter almonds, pounded to a paste with a little water.
Gradually stir in the yolks and then the whites of the eggs, sugar, and butter.
Transfer the mixture to a porcelain-lined stew kettle and stir continually over low heat until thick, but do not let it boil.
Bake and serve
When nearly cold, pour the mixture into a dish lined with puff pastry.
Bake for 30 minutes in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).
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.
-
Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Yolks and whites set the custard and give it a thick, tender body as they cook.
- Pounded almonds
- Provide the main body and nutty flavour of the pudding.
- Cream
- Adds richness and moisture, giving the custard a smooth, soft texture.
- Bread crumbs
- Soak up the hot cream and help give the pudding its body.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smoother, more tender texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and helps balance the richness of the cream and butter.
The step that matters
Stirring the custard over low heat. Eggs thicken as they warm, but if the custard boils the proteins can curdle and turn grainy. Stirring constantly over low heat keeps it smooth and thick.
Swap the almond
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, cream, egg, sugar, butter):
- Almondthe original
- Pecansfits about as well
- Chestnutfits less well
- Filbertfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, cream, egg, sugar, butter. 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.
More almond pudding recipes
You might also like
Bread Pudding153 recipes
Soft Ginger Bread85 recipes
Orange Potato Bread80 recipes
Brown Bread Pudding47 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.