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 ↓
French Bread Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Butter a medium-sized shallow pan.
Stir the raisins and cut them in half, then lay them in the pan.
Cover with a layer of very thin slices of buttered bread.
Make the custard
Beat the egg yolks and set the whites aside in a cool place.
Add granulated sugar to the yolks, pour the milk over them, add vanilla, and stir well.
Pour the mixture over the bread.
Bake and finish
Bake until golden brown.
Remove from the oven, beat the egg whites until stiff, and gradually add powdered sugar.
Spread the egg whites on top and bake for 15 minutes in a cool oven, turning often for even browning.
Optionally, spread jelly over the bread before adding the egg whites.
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).
-
Milk + buttertop 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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Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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
- Yolks enrich and set the custard, while whipped whites form the light topping.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that becomes the custard around the bread.
- Bread
- Soaks up the custard and forms the body of the pudding.
- Raisins
- Add sweetness and chewy pockets throughout the pudding.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the custard and helps it brown.
The step that matters
Beating and baking the egg white topping. Whites must be beaten until stiff and the sugar added gradually so they hold their shape. Baking in a cool oven and turning the pan sets the meringue gently and browns it evenly without collapsing or scorching.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, bread, butter, egg, sugar, vanilla):
- Figfits better
- Peachfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Raisinthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, bread, butter, egg, sugar, 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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