Why it works: Butter and bread 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 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 base
In a saucepan, combine the milk, ground almonds, and butter, and heat until the butter melts.
Remove from heat and mix in the egg yolks and sugar until well combined.
Stir in the rusk and flavorings.
Fold and bake
Beat the egg whites with 1 tablespoon of sugar until stiff peaks form, then gently fold them into the mixture.
Pour the mixture into a pudding pan and place it in a larger pan filled with boiling water.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 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.
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.
-
Butter + breadtop 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).
-
Almond + lemontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,655 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
-
Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Yolks enrich and bind the custard, while whipped whites lift the pudding as it bakes.
- Almonds
- Ground almonds add body, richness and nutty flavour to the custard.
- Rusk or bread crumbs
- Dry crumbs absorb the milk and butter, giving the pudding a soft, set body.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that the crumbs soak up and that sets with the eggs.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a tender, rich texture and smooth mouthfeel.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps stabilise the whipped egg whites.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Whipped whites trap air that lifts the pudding as it bakes. Stirring or overmixing them deflates the foam, so the pudding bakes up denser and flatter. Fold gently, just until no white streaks remain.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (almond, milk, butter, sugar, egg, bread, rose):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Peachfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against almond, milk, butter, sugar, egg, bread, rose. 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
Lemon Cake228 recipes
Bread Pudding153 recipes
Lemon Ice147 recipes
Lemon Sherbet103 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.