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 Pie
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).
Rub the bread into fine crumbs, discarding the crust.
Make the filling
In a bowl, combine the bread crumbs, egg yolk, milk, and butter.
Sweeten the mixture to taste and add nutmeg for flavor.
Pour the mixture into a pie dish and 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.
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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Bread + nutmegtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,997 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolk
- Binds the custard and helps it set firm when baked.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard, giving it moisture and a soft texture.
- Bread
- Thickens the custard as its starch absorbs the liquid and gives body to the filling.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a richer flavor and smoother texture in the custard.
The step that matters
Bake until set. Egg proteins coagulate as the custard heats; underbaking leaves it runny, while overbaking makes it curdle and weep, so watch for a set centre that still jiggles slightly.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, egg, milk, butter, sugar):
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Nutmegthe original
- Parsleyfits less well
- Capersfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, egg, milk, butter, sugar. 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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