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 ↓
Queen of Puddings
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure. 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 the base
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Place the bread crumbs in a small baking dish.
Mix in the grated lemon rind.
Beat the egg yolks and sugar together.
Add the melted butter and lemon juice.
Stir in the milk.
Combine with the bread crumbs.
Bake for about 30 minutes until set and lightly browned.
Top and finish
Let cool.
Spread a layer of jam or jelly on top.
Cover with the stiffly beaten egg whites.
Brown slightly in the oven.
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.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Bread + milktop 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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Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Bread crumbs
- Form the body of the pudding, soaking up the milk and egg mixture.
- Eggs
- Set the custard and, as whites, give the meringue topping its light structure.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that soaks the crumbs and forms the custard.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the meringue stay stable when browned.
- Lemon
- Adds aroma and bright acidity from the rind and juice.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness to the custard base.
The step that matters
Beat the egg whites stiff before covering the pudding. Egg whites hold air only when beaten to stiff peaks; under-beaten whites collapse and weep, leaving the topping flat and soggy rather than light and set.
Flavor stand-ins for the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, butter, milk, sugar, egg):
- Vanillabetter flavor fit
- Figbetter flavor fit
- Peachabout as good a flavor fit
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, butter, milk, sugar, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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