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 ↓
Cream 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.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, stir together the cream, sugar, egg yolks, and grated nutmeg.
Gently fold in the well-beaten egg whites.
Assemble and bake
Butter a pie plate and sprinkle with stale bread crumbs to form a crust.
Pour the cream mixture into the pie plate.
Sprinkle a layer of bread crumbs on top.
Bake until 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.
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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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,920 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Egg + breadtop 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
- Cream
- Provides richness and moisture, and sets into a soft custard when baked.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the custard and help it set into a smooth, tender texture.
- Egg whites
- Folded in for lightness, adding airiness to the custard.
- Stale bread crumbs
- Form the base crust and top layer, absorbing moisture and adding texture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps balance the richness of the cream and yolks.
The step that matters
Gently fold in the well-beaten egg whites. Overmixing or stirring vigorously deflates the whites, losing the airiness they add. Gentle folding keeps the air trapped so the custard stays light and tender as it sets.
“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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