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 ↓
Danish 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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, mix together the bread crumbs, sweet milk, sugar, butter, baking powder, and egg yolks.
Pour the mixture into a baking dish and bake for 30 minutes.
Top and brown
Spread jelly over the top.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with sugar until stiff peaks form.
Spread the beaten egg whites over the jelly and return to the oven until browned.
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.
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Bread + buttertop 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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Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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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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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Bread crumbs
- Form the soft body of the pudding and absorb the liquid as it sets.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the base and help bind it into a set, custard-like texture.
- Egg whites
- Whipped with sugar, they form a light, airy meringue that browns on top.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the oven, helping the base rise and stay light.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richer flavour and a more tender crumb.
- Sweet milk
- Adds moisture that softens the bread crumbs and helps the base set.
The step that matters
Beat the egg whites with sugar until stiff peaks form. Whites under-beaten will weep and fail to hold a topping, while over-beaten whites turn dry and grainy. Stiff, glossy peaks trap air that expands and browns in the oven.
“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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