Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. 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.
Prepare the bread
Cut the loaf of bread into slices.
Spread each slice with butter.
Place slices in a pan.
Pour boiling milk over slices.
Let mixture stand overnight.
Make the custard
Beat eggs lightly.
Mix sugar, raisins, and spices into beaten eggs.
Pour mixture over bread.
Bake and serve
Bake at 350°F (175°C) until set.
Serve with sauce.
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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Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
-
Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,377 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Bread
- Forms the body of the pudding and soaks up the custard as it sets.
- Eggs
- Set when heated, giving the pudding its firm, custard-like structure.
- Milk
- Softens the bread and provides moisture that becomes the custard base.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the custard brown lightly in the oven.
- Raisins
- Add pockets of concentrated sweetness and chewy texture throughout the pudding.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat that keeps the bread from tasting dry.
The step that matters
Let the bread soak overnight. The bread must fully absorb the boiling milk so the custard distributes evenly; skipping or shortening this leaves dry patches and a loose, uneven set.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, butter, milk, egg, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Raisinthe original
- Lemonfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, butter, milk, egg, sugar, cinnamon, 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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