Why it works: Raisin and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,377 recipes. Both carry alpha-terpineol, which smells lilac, floral. The science ↓
Bread Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the base
Grate the bread into a pudding dish.
Measure the milk and pour it into the dish.
Separate the egg yolk and white.
Add sugar to the yolks and mix the yolks and sugar together.
Combine raisins with the milk and bread.
Grate nutmeg into the yolk and sugar mixture and beat the mixture together.
Add the yolk mixture to the bread and milk.
Bake and finish
Bake in the oven.
Check the pudding with a spoon; if it is milky, it needs more cooking.
Beat the egg white until stiff.
Add one tablespoon of sugar to the egg white.
Spread the egg white and sugar mixture over the top when done.
Brown slightly in a cool oven before serving.
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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Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,377 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
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Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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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
- Grated bread
- Forms the body of the pudding, soaking up the milk and egg to set into a soft custard.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that softens the bread and, with the egg, sets into a custard.
- Egg yolk
- Enriches the custard and helps it set smoothly when baked.
- Egg white
- Beaten with sugar to make a light topping that browns gently on the pudding.
- Raisins
- Add pockets of sweetness and chewy texture throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Checking the doneness of the pudding. If the custard is underbaked, it stays liquid and milky in the center. Testing with a spoon before adding the meringue-style topping helps confirm the egg has set.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, milk, egg, sugar, nutmeg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Raisinthe original
- Lemonfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, milk, egg, sugar, 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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