Why it works: Bread and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,466 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. 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
Spread butter on the bread dice.
Make the custard
In a bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, sugar, and nutmeg to make a custard.
Pour the custard over the bread.
Bake and serve
Bake at 350°F (175°C) until the custard is set.
Serve with hard sauce, if desired.
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 + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Sugar + saucetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,147 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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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).
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Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,685 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
- Bread
- Forms the body of the pudding and soaks up the custard as it bakes.
- Milk
- Makes the liquid base that carries the custard into the bread.
- Eggs
- Set when heated, giving the pudding its firm, sliceable custard texture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and contributes to browning on the baked surface.
The step that matters
Bake until the custard is set. Eggs set as they heat, and underbaking leaves the custard loose and runny, while overbaking can make it grainy or rubbery. Checking for a set centre prevents both.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, milk, egg, sugar, sauce):
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Nutmegthe original
- Capersfits less well
- Gingerfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, milk, egg, sugar, sauce. 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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