Why it works: Raisin and nutmeg 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 ↓
Rich Bread and Butter 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 the bread
Cut the bread into thin slices.
Spread the slices with butter.
Layer the bread in a pudding dish.
Sprinkle seeded raisins and finely chopped citron between each layer.
Make the custard
Beat the eggs with the rolled sugar.
Mix in the milk and grated nutmeg.
Pour the mixture over the layered bread.
Let it soak for 30 minutes.
Bake
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 45 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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Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,377 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
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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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Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Bind the custard and help it set into a soft, sliceable texture when baked.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that soaks the bread and forms the custard around it.
- Bread
- Forms the structure that soaks up the custard and holds the pudding together.
- Rolled sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the custard brown lightly in the oven.
- Seeded raisins
- Add pockets of sweetness and chewy texture between the bread layers.
The step that matters
Let it soak for 30 minutes. Soaking lets the bread absorb the custard evenly before baking. Without it, dry pockets stay in the pudding and the custard may not set uniformly.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, butter, egg, sugar, milk, nutmeg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Raisinthe original
- Lemonfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, butter, egg, sugar, milk, nutmeg. 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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