Why it works: Nutmeg and raisin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,377 recipes. Both carry alpha-terpineol, which smells lilac, floral. 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.
Make the pudding
Cut the bread into small square pieces.
Make a custard by combining milk, egg yolks, sugar, and nutmeg.
Add the raisins to the custard mixture.
Mix everything in a deep dish and bake at 350°F (175°C) until light brown.
Top and finish
Beat the egg whites with enough sugar to stiffen them.
Once the pudding is cool, drop the beaten egg whites in spoonfuls on top.
Return the dish to the oven until the egg whites are lightly 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.
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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Nutmeg + raisintop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,377 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
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Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Milk + raisintop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,155 recipes
Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).
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Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,685 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Egg + nutmegtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together24,744 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Egg and nutmeg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 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
- Milk
- Forms the liquid custard that soaks into the bread and sets during baking.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard and give the pudding its rich body as they set.
- Egg whites
- Whipped with sugar, they form a light meringue topping that browns in the oven.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and helps stiffen the egg whites for the topping.
- Raisins
- Add pockets of concentrated sweetness and chewy texture throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Drop the beaten egg whites on top once the pudding is cool. Meringue made with sugar is fragile. If it is spooned onto a hot pudding it can weep or collapse, so the pudding should cool first before the topping is added and browned.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, egg, sugar, raisin):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegthe original
- Gingerfits less well
- Allspicefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, sugar, raisin. 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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