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 ↓
Marmalade, Orange, 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
Beat the eggs and mix with the milk and sugar for five minutes.
Rub the stale bread through a wire sieve to prepare crumbs, discarding the crust.
Make the pudding
Combine the bread crumbs and suet with the egg mixture and work until smooth.
Grease a tin mold and fill it with the mixture, alternating layers of orange marmalade.
Bake
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
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).
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
-
Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
-
Milk + orangetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,696 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and help set the pudding as it bakes.
- Stale bread crumbs
- Absorb the liquid and give the pudding its body.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and tender.
- Orange marmalade
- Adds sweetness, acidity and orange aroma between the layers.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and adds moisture-holding character.
The step that matters
Working the crumbs into the egg mixture until smooth. Stale crumbs need time to soak up the liquid evenly; lumps of dry crumb left in the batter can stay dry and tough after baking.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, milk, sugar, bread, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Peachfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, sugar, bread, 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.
You might also like
The 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.
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Bread Pudding153 recipes
Orange Cream Rice Pudding121 recipes
Orange Gelatin100 recipes