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 ↓
Bread Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the base
Sweeten the milk with sugar and salt, then pour it boiling over the bread crumbs.
Add the butter and cover with a plate; let sit for at least 30 minutes.
Stir in the well-whisked eggs and flavoring.
Cook
Pour the mixture into a well-buttered mold or basin that holds 1½ pints.
Tie a paper and cloth tightly over the mold and boil for exactly 1 hour and 10 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.
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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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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Milk + breadtop 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
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and set into a firm, custard-like pudding as they cook.
- Bread crumbs
- Form the body of the pudding and soak up the milk to hold its shape.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that soaks the crumbs and cooks into a soft custard.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the savory notes of the milk and eggs.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat for a tender texture.
The step that matters
Boil for exactly 1 hour and 10 minutes. Eggs set as they heat, so too little time leaves the pudding loose and too much can make it rubbery. Keep the water boiling steadily and the cloth tight so the mold cooks evenly.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, bread, butter, egg):
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Nutmegthe original
- Parsleyfits less well
- Capersfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, bread, butter, egg. 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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