Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Bread Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare and bake
Soak the bread crumbs in hot water.
In a bowl, combine the soaked bread crumbs, beaten eggs, sugar, butter, milk, raisins, and vanilla, and do not stir the bread crumbs too much.
Pour the mixture into a baking dish and bake at 300°F (150°C) until set.
Top and brown
Spread with jelly.
Make a meringue with the beaten egg whites and sugar, flavor with vanilla, and spread over the pudding.
Return to the oven to brown slightly.
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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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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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).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Walnut + vanillatop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,730 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Coagulate as they bake, setting the custard so the pudding holds its shape.
- Bread crumbs
- Soak up the liquid and give the pudding a soft, bready body.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that the eggs set into a tender custard.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the meringue brown lightly in the oven.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a softer, more tender crumb.
The step that matters
Bake until just set. Egg proteins set as the custard heats, and too much heat or time makes them tighten, curdle, and weep liquid. Stop baking once the centre is just firm, since it keeps setting as it cools.
Swap the walnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, egg, sugar, butter, milk, raisin, vanilla):
- Almondfits better
- Chestnutfits better
- Pecansfits better
- Walnutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, egg, sugar, butter, milk, raisin, vanilla. 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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