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 ↓
Bread 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 custard base
Warm the milk in a saucepan, but do not let it boil.
In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.
Stir the creamed mixture into the warm milk.
Add eggs and bread, then bake
Remove from heat and beat the eggs with 1 tablespoon of sugar, then stir into the mixture.
Add the vanilla and brandy, then fold in the bread pieces.
Place the pudding pan in a larger pan filled with boiling water.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 15 to 20 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.
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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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Set the custard into a soft, sliceable structure as they cook.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that soaks the bread and cooks into custard.
- Bread
- Soaks up the custard and gives the pudding its body.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a rich, tender texture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the richness of the eggs and butter.
- Brandy
- Adds a warm, aromatic flavor.
The step that matters
Bake in a water bath. Setting the pan in boiling water surrounds the custard with gentle, even heat. Eggs set smoothly this way; with too much direct heat they can curdle and turn grainy or rubbery.
“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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